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THE 



FALL OF NEW FRANCE 



1755 = 1760 



GERALD E. HART 



PRESIDENT OP THE SOCIETY FOB mSTOBICAL STUDIES, MONTREAL, PAST VI0E-PKE8IDENT AND 
LIFE MEMBER OF TUE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, MONTREAL, ETC. 



WITH PORTRAITS AND VIEWS IN ARTOTYPE 



iuis nescit primam esse historias legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat : 
deinde ne quid veri non audeat. — Cic- de Orat. Lib. II. 



.'■»P 






MONTREAL : 
TORONTO : 
NEW YORK : 



W. DRYSDALE & CO 
R. W. DOUGLAS & CO 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
1888 



LtR 



O-l- 



Entered according to the Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year 1 
by Gerald E. Hart, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. 



Copyright by 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1888. 



V^' 



\^ 



"b^ 



PRINTED BY GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY, MONTREAL. 



JOHN EEADE, Esq., F.K.S.C, 

PAST PEESIDENT, 
AND THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL 
STUDIES, MONTREAL, THIS MONOGRAPH 
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The past history of Canada from a provincial 
aspect is replete with interesting episodes of adven- 
ture, discovery, conquest — religious and political — 
and war by sea and land, which have ever been 
the subject of polemical discussions. The Society for 
Historical Studies, young as it is, has not been slow 
to elucidate many events which have been so fruitful 
of interest to all of us and the community at large. In 
a heterogeneous population such as that forming the 
present Dominion of Canada, it is not surprising that 
our history has been written from an uncosmopolitan 
point of view, pandering to national prejudices. It 
is with gratification, therefore, that we see this Society 
rising above selfish views, delving to the founda- 
tion of history and presenting it in conformity with 



VI Introductory Note. 

Cicero's injunction on the title page hereof, as it 
should be, free from all bias and consequences, 
having truth and fact for its basis. The present 
pages form the subject of a paper read before one of 
the Sessions of the Society, which was deemed 
worthy of more extended use and publicity. It is 
therefore offered, in the hope that it will merely 
be the forerunner of many others worthy of greater 
preservation, which it has been my good province 
to hear read at its Sessions and which, properly 
collated and edited, will form together a valuable 
history of the Dominion. 

As the eye is the window of the soul, treating it 
likewise as the avenue to the mind, I have added 
illustrations of the leading actors (or such of them as 
are obtainable) and principal cities, from originals of 
the time, which generous possessors have largely 
enabled me to contribute. Original portraits and 
views are more difficult and costly to obtain than 
the public are probably aware of ; the few 
examples now remaining are either in inaccessible 



Introductory Note. Vll 

places or equally so in the hands of collectors, who do 
not desire to see them reproduced. It is a pleasure 
therefore to me thus publicly to acknowledge the 
spontaneous and generous offerings I received from 
Mr. Robert Jenkins, Rosedale, Toronto ; Mr. Lawrence 
Heyden, Toronto, the owner of the valuable letter 
from Wolfe herein produced ; Mr. Justin Winsor, 
Harvard University ; Mr. John Horn, Montreal, 
some of whose originals as well as autograph signa- 
tures from rare documents or letters in facsimile, 
adorn these pages. 

a. E. H. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

"^ 1. Major General Wolfe's Letter, 1759 Frontispiece 

. 2. The Hon. Vice-Admiral Boscawen 39 

3. Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow 44 

— 4. Expulsion Medal 49 

- 5. Fac-simile from M^dailles Louis-le-Grand 50 

6. Madame La Marquise de Pompadour 65 

7. Lieut-General Marquis of Montcalm 67 

8. Colonel Bougainville, A.D.C 96 

- 9. Quebec in 1759 97 

I 10. Major General James Wolfe 98 

11. Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Saunders 99 

^ 12. Battle of Montmorenci, 1759 103 

I 13. The Hon. Brigadier-General Robert Monckton 104 

^ 14. Quebec after the Bombardment, 1759 113 

15. The Hon. Brigadier-General George Townshend 114 

16. Captain Hugh Palliser, R.N 115 

■ 17. Wolfe's Monument, Westminster Abbey 137 

18. The Hon. Brigadier-General James Murray, First Governor- 

General of Quebec 138 

19. Chevalier de Levis 140 

' 20. Major General Jeffery Amherst 143 

- 21. Montreal in 1760 147 

. 22. Brigadier General Thomas Gage, Governor of Montreal, 

1760 151 

Biographical sketches and descriptions appended at end of narrative- 



" One voice, one people, one in heart 
And soul, and feeling, and desire ! 
Re-light the smouldering martial fire, 
Sound the mute trumpet, strike the lyre. 
The hero deed can not expire. 
The dead still play their part. 

Raise high the monumental stone ! 
A nation's fealty is theirs, 
And we are the rejoicing heirs, 
The honored sons of sires whose cares 
We take upon us unawares. 
As freely as our own. 

We boast not of the victory. 

But render homage, deep and just, 
To his — to their — immortal dust, 
Who proved so worthy of their trust 
No lofty pile nor sculptured bust 
Can herald their degree." 

Sangstbk. 



1754-1760. 

A retrospective glance at the colonization period 
of the history of North America will show us that 
the country was claimed, in the first half of the l^th 
century, by the Spaniards on the south, closely 
bordered on the north by the doubtful claim of the 
French to the Louisiana country, which had not then 
been named ; the Eng-lish, in their neighboring colony 
of Virginia, already well-established ; the Dutch New 
Netherlands adjoining them on the north-east ; New 
England following to the further north-east, with a 
small strip of territory and coast-line ; New France, 
the rest of the country to the North Pole. 

We have thus all the great Christian nations of 
the world colonizing and taking possession of the 



2 The Fall of New France. 

beautiful continent of North America, each outvie- 
ing the other in their vain effort to establish a reli- 
gious hierarchy, according to their different tenets, 
in a land which knew not the Cross, but which 
opened to them a prospect of peace they could not 
enjoy in their own homes. 

While commercial enterprise was the main factor 
in establishing these colonies, the propagation of the 
Gospel and the advancement of the divine glory, 
" by bringing- the Indians and savages resident in 
" these parts to human civility and a settled and 
" quiet government," were the chief objects to be 
attained. ^ 

Vexilla Regis prodeunt ; 
Fulget crucis mysterium. 

The unfortunate divergent opinions as to the 
mode in which Christianity should be worshipped, 

^The Charter of the One Hundred Associates, granted on the 
29th April, 1627, bj' King Louis XIII, read : " For the primary pur- 
" pose of converting the Indians to the Cathohc Faith," and "for 
" the purpose of obtaining for his Majesty's Subjects new cominer- 
" cial advantages, derivable from a better management of the fur 
" trade." — Faillon Histoire de la Colonie Francaise en Canada, p. 126 
et seq. 



The Fall of New France. 3 

were now transplanted from the Old to the New soil. 
The Spaniard, with his ultramontane views, more 
Catholic than the most exacting Roman ; the Nor- 
man and Breton peasant, with his mild and sweet 
submission to the doctrines of the parental Church 
of Eome, under the Order of St. Francis, to be later 
on exchanged for that of the more turbulent and 
despotic control of Loyola ; the direct opposing faction 
of the Virginian, who had left his home, bringing 
with him a charter, in which it was a special duty that 
" the true word and service of God, according to the 
" rites and services of the Church of England, should 
" be preached, planted and be used in the Colonies 
" and among the neighboring savages ;"' the Puri- 
tan exile, in his sacerdotal oligarchy, in which " no 
" man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body 
" politic, but such as are members of some of the 
" Churches within its precincts ;" and the New 
Netherlander, acting under the parent Grovern- 
ment of the States-General of Holland, whose mis- 
sion was "peace and amity, without Church, that 
" everyone should enjoy the free exercise of their 

^ James the First, November 20, 1606, Instructions for the 
Government of Virginia. 



4 The Fall of New France. 

" religion within their own houses ;" ^ w^ere now the 
doctrines to be established and enforced within their 
usurper's rights of territory in America, and extended 
to the natives thereof. 

Each colony, under political allegiance to the 
parent Government, was subservient to the fate of 
the nation as it became embroiled in European con- 
troversies. Thus, by a series of successive wars, the 
fate of several of these American possessions was 
like a kaleidoscopic view — one day French, the next 
English; followed by an occasional victory for the 
Spaniard and the Hollander ! 

,A11 these facts have been dwelt upon, in detail, in 
the very interesting series of consecutive papers read 
this session. I will, therefore, merely point out the 
state of the map of America at the period I am 
desired to lay bare before you. "We have the Spa- 
niards driven to the mountainous region of Mexico, 
their occupation of Florida being merely nominal. 
The Hollander absorbed by England, which latter 
claimed the entire coast-line of the Atlantic between 
latitudes 28° 50' and 62° north, with boundary to the 
west by the water-line of the Mississippi River, 

^ Annals of North America (Howland), page 101- 



The Fall of New France. ^ 

north-west the Lakes and the Eiver St. Lawrence ; 
running to the east as far as the Eiver Bustard, or 
St. John ; thence north, obliquely, in longitude 62°, 
she claimed Labrador, or New Britain, and the Hud- 
son Bay Territory to the Pole. The French, in their 
formerly majestic Province of New France, absorb- 
ing three-fourths of the whole continent, were now 
confined to the narrow strip of land lying between 
what was known as the Height of Land, or Hills, 
dividing the water-shed between the Hudson Bay 
and the St. Lawrence and having, as its southern- 
most boundary, the St. Lawrence, the Lakes, and 
south-easterly the Mississippi to the Grulf of Mexico. 
This division, however, while laid down on the 
French maps, was never formally accepted by the 
Canadians or the French Grovernment. They 
claimed the English western boundary to be the 
Alleghany ridge of mountains and not the Missis- 
sippi Eiver, and in this intervening valley France 
planted, built and maintained forts of more or less 
strength. This disputed territory, a land of inex- 
haustible wealth of lumber and minerals, teeming 
with the richest of fur bearing animals, was not 
in the actual possession by occupation of either 



6 The Fall of New France. 

contestants. The English while claiming it, had not 
yet extended beyond the confines of the coast-line of 
the Alleghany chain. A few missionaries of the 
Moravian or United Brethren sect, avowing tributary 
allegiance to the Virginian Grovernment, had estab- 
lished posts for the conversion of the Indians, chiefly 
in the Pennsylvania district among the Delawares ; 
outside of them, the French traders alone were met 
with in their honorable traffic with the natives, for 
which they were always distinguished, in sad 
contradistinction to the practices of the Provincials. 
England deemed it incredible that France would 
lay claim, by right of La Salle's discovery of 16 74, 
to this large interior, commonly known as the Five 
Nations country ; for the English were determined 
to make good the pretensions they had always main- 
tained (perhaps without foundation) of a prior dis- 
covery by Wood in 1654, and by Bolt in 1670. This 
claim is to some extent recognized by the fifteenth 
clause of the treaty of peace at Utrecht.^ It is said 

1 Section XV., Treaty of Utrecht, 11 April, 1713:— "The subjects 
" of France inhabiting Canada, and others, shall hereafter give no 
" hindrance or molestation to the five nations or cantons of Indians 
" subject to the Dominion of Great Britain, nor to the other natives 
" of America, who are friends to the same. In like manner the 



The Fall of New F7'a7ice. 7 

that it was only in 1742 that the country west of the 
mountains was occupied by the first Englishman 
M^ho had ever wandered beyond the great Appala- 
chian chain. This was John Howard, of Virginia, 
who was closely followed by Conrad Weiser and the 
Moravian missionaries, who established permanent 
posts.^ 

The French had unquestionably approached nearer 
an occupation by erecting trading posts and had had 
extensive dealings with the natives for thirty years. 
This was followed, in 1749, by France sending an 
armed expedition under De Celeron to take official pos- 
session of the disiDuted territory, by affixing leaden 

" subjects of Great Britain shall behave themselves peaceably 
" towards the Americans, who are subjects or friends of France; 
" and on both sides they shall enjoy full liberty of going and 
" coming on account of trade. As also the natives of those coun- 
" tries shall, with the same liberty, resort, as they please, to the 
" British and French colonies, for promoting trade on one side, and 
" the other, without any molestation or hindrance, either on the part 
" of the British subjects, or of the French. But it is to be exactly and 
" distinctly settled by commissaries, who are, and who ought to be 
" accounted the subjects and friends of Britain or of France." 

' It is true, prior to this, in 1714, immediately after the Peace of 
Utrecht, Col- Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant-Governor of Virgi- 
nia, personally and with indefatigable labor, made the first certain 
discovery of a passage over the Appalachian Mountains, but nothing 
further came of it. 



8 The Fall of Nezv France. 

plates at prominent localities, under the orders of De 
la Gallissoniere, the Viceroy of Canada and New 
France, to oppose the cession made by England to 
the Ohio Company hereafter mentioned. 

The territory in question was very fully occupied 
by the Indian races, who had their villages estab- 
lished ; their tribal hunting-grounds well defined ; 
with council fires burning at Shamokin, the capital of 
the Delaware country, and Onondago, that of the Iro- 
quois ; where they discussed, at periodical intervals, 
their common foe — the white man. Here overtures 
were made by La Joncaire-Chabert for the French — 
William Johnson for the English — accompanied with 
liberal presents, to obtain their powerful assistance 
in attacks upon Canada or the New England colo- 
nies, as the case might be. Well may they have 
been puzzled as to which cause they should espouse, 
for both were their common enemy in driving them 
from the soil of their forefathers ; the game upon 
which they subsisted was rapidly receding before 
the encroachments of civilization. 

The Grosj)el had been preached to these different 
tribes by most zealous Jesuit missionaries for over a 
century, in the interests of France ; and by Moravian 



The Fall of New France. Q 

and other missiouaries on the English behalf, with- 
out making much progress, as the Indian of that day 
was not a creature to be influenced by religion to 
any appreciable degree, the chase and the battle-axe 
being the objects alone for which he lived. While 
not so effective in establishing the Catholic worship 
in their hearts ; the French, — by their congenial 
nature for hunting, honest traffic, and a dauntless 
courage for which their officers were most feared 
and beloved — were more successful in gaining over 
the friendship and powerful assistance of these tribes 
in the war which was now about to commence. 

The Iroquois, through their eloquent Mohawk 
chief, Hendrick, responded to the call of the Eng- 
lish, at a conference with Col. William Johnson, in 
the following terms : — " We don't know what you 
" Christians, English and French, intend. We are 
" so hemmed in by you both, that we have hardly a 
" hunting place left. In a little while, if we find a 
" bear in a tree, there will immediately appear an 
" owner of the land to claim the property and 
" hinder us from killing it, by which we live. 
" We are so perplexed between you, that we hardly 



10 The Fall of New France. 

" know what to say or think." ^ Subsequently, 
in a direct reply to their appeal for assistance, he 
reproached them with neglect, if not cowardice : — 
" We could have taken Crown Point, but you 
" prevented us. Instead, you burnt your own fort 
" at Saratoga and ran away from it, which was a 
" shame and a scandal to you. Look about your 
" country, and see ! You have no fortifications ; no, 
" not even in Quider (Albany). It is but a step 
" from Canada hither, and the French may come and 
" turn you out of doors. You desire us to speak 
" from the bottom of our hearts, and we shall do it, 
" Look at the French ; they are men ! They are for- 
" tifying everywhere. But you are all like women, 
" bare and open, without fortifications ! ! " "^ The Iro- 
quois became allies of the French, and remained so 
until the year 1759. 

In 1749, the Ohio Company received a grant 
of a large territory from the English Grovernment, 
consisting of 500,000 acres, on the east bank of 
the Ohio, within the disputed country. They 
were to have the monopoly of the Indian trade. 

^ New York Colonial Documents, Vol- VL, p. 813. 
^Pichon's Memoires du Cap Breton, 1760, p. 245. 



The Fall of New France. II 

The French considered this au encroachment, 
claiming, as I have before stated, by the right of 
discovery and occupation, all the lands watered 
by the tributaries of the Mississippi. The Ohio 
Company, opposed alike by the French and the 
Indians, endeavored to take forcible possession of 
their property by erecting a fort at Eedstone (now 
Brownville), on the Monongahela. The French pro- 
ceeding with the erection of additional forts, the 
English Grovernment, through Lord Holderness, 
Secretary of State, wrote to the governors of Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia, that " whenever the French 
were found within the undoubted limits of their 
provinces," force should be used to repel force. ^ 
Thus matters stood ready for an open conflict, and it 
is not suprising that a rupture soon occurred to 
which neither party attached much importance. 
With the exception of this skirmish in 1750, at a 
block-house said to belong to the English on the 
Miami Eiver, in which the French were successful, 
nothing of any moment arose to mar the peace 
established since the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 

^ Parkman says that this letter was signed by the King 
personally. 



12 The Fall of New France. 

1*748 ^ It was only in 1753 that the French gave 
unmistakeable signs of their intention of maintain- 
ing by force the country claimed by both. 

In this year, Lieut.-Grov. Dinwiddle, of Virginia, 
purchased the right from the Indians on the Mon- 
ongahela to erect a fort at the junction of that river 
with the Alleghany. He then determined upon 
sending an envoy to the French commandant at the 
nearest fort, named Le Bceuf, built on what was 
known as the French Creek, demanding their im- 
mediately vacating the territory. 

This emissary introduced to American history its 
greatest and most remarkable statesman, the cele- 
brated Greorge Washington ; who, though then but 
twenty-one years of age, offered to undertake this 
perilous adventure. Accompanied by the land sur- 
veyor. Grist, and a few Indians ; he reached the fort, 

' In like manner to the English instructions, retaliatory orders 
were given by the Governor of Canada to arrest all Englishmen 
found beyond the Alleghanies, and seize their goods ; this was put 
in execution, and several English traders were forwarded to France 
and lodged in the prisons of Rochelle. {The Ifysfery Revealed, Lon- 
don, 1759, p, 298.) A remonstrance and demand for their release, 
from the Court of England, was presented by the English Ambas- 
sador at Paris, the Earl of Albemarle, on the 7th March, 1752 
(idem, p. 314), but received no satisfaction. 



The Fall of New France. I^ 

was well received, delivered the Grovernor's message, 
but obtained no satisfaction. In the following year, 
1754, Washington, then lieutenant-colonel of a Vir- 
ginia regiment, with 300 men, was sent to enforce 
his mission of the year previous and to erect military 
works on the banks of the Ohio ! ! ^ He was to be 
followed by Col. Fry, who was to assume command, 
but this latter died en route. 

It was a strange decree of fate, that the chosen 
Warrior to set on foot the " seven years' war " in 
America, ending with establishing England's supre- 
macy on this continent, should have been a native- 
born American and the same individual who, a few 
years hence, dealt the blow which annihilated her 
sovereignty over the larger and more valuable part of 
the same territory. Stranger still, that Providence 
ordained, when fighting on behalf of his Mother 
Country at Forts Necessity and Braddock's Fields, 
the only engagements of the War in which he took 
a prominent part, both should be disastrous failures ; 
while his last effort, when directed against her at 
Yorktown in 1781, should have been that of an over- 
whelming victory, upon which he rose to the pin- 

^ Wasliingto'n! !^ Journal, 1754. 



M The Fall of New France. 

nacle of fame and severed at one blow the parental 
ties which had existed over one hundred and fifty 
years in uninterrupted harmony with her cherished 
colonies, for which she had so often fought and bled. 
"Washington, with half of his regiment, reached 
Wills' Creek, a fort of the Ohio Company, which was 
to form the base of operations. He sent Capt. Trent 
to erect a fort at the present site of Pittsburg, but 
the foundations had barely been laid before he was 
suddenly faced by a force of 500 French militia, 
with cannon, and obliged to desist. No engagement 
took place, and he was allowed to rejoin Washington. 
The works were then demolished, and gave place to 
the erection by the French of Fort Duquesne. In 
anticipation of an attack by a detachment from 
this same force under Commander Ensign Jumonville 
de Villiers, who was sent on a reconnoitering expedi- 
tion of which Washington was advised through 
friendly Indians, but which was considerably magni- 
fied by them ; he proceeded to meet them on the 26th 
May, and in the encounter Jumonville was killed, 
with nine others, and twenty-one prisoners taken. 
This gave rise to a great deal of controversy in France 
and Canada and Washington was accused of violating 



The Fall of New France. I^ 

all known articles of war in attacking a peaceful 
embassy. With the lapse of time and cooler judg- 
ment, both French and Canadian authors have with- 
drawn this ridiculous and gratuitous accusation. 

Expecting a more formidable attack, he built an 
entrenchment, which he named Fort Necessity. 
Being reinforced with Col. Fry's detachment of the 
Virginia militia, he had a force of 300 men and one 
company of regulars under his command. The 
French, on the 3rd July, about 900 strong, com- 
manded by Coulon de Villiers, brother of Jumon- 
ville, attacked the entrenchment in a vigorous 
onslaught and after nine hours incessant fighting, a 
flag of truce was sent asking a capitulation, which 
Washington accepted with "honors of war.'" 

No doubt, while this was a disastrous failure ibr 
Washington ; in result, it was, practically speaking, 
a drawn battle, without loss of honor or prestige to 
him. He was opposed by a much larger force ; but 
having the advantage of position, with a fort, a suffi- 
cient garrison and the overtures of a parley coming 

' Tlie Mystery Revealed; or, Truth hrougJd io Light. London, 1759, 
p. 22. Also idem, Villier's Journal, p. 167, and Washington's Journal, 
1754. 



l6 The Fall of New France. 

from the attacking force, he should have held his 
ground with probably ultimately a result of a 
complete rout to his attackers. An Indian chief 
expressing his opinion of the fight to Washington 
(Conotocarious, as he was called by them), ex- 
claimed, "The French behaved like cowards; the 
" English like fools ! ! " It was upon the 4th July, 
1754, in his twenty-second year, that he surrendered 
and retreated from Fort Necessity ; it was a remark- 
able coincidence and synchronism that upon the 4th 
July, twenty-two years afterwards, he began and 
consummated the liberty and independence of a 
nation destined to become one of the greatest com- 
mercial and controlling powers of modern times. ^ 

Parkman, in Montcalm and Wolfe, says " the defeat 
" at Fort Necessity was doubly disastrous to the 
" English, since it was a new step and a long one, 
" towards the ruin of their interests with the 
" Indians ; and when in the next year the smoul- 
" dering war broke into flame, nearly all the west- 
" ern tribes drew their scalping-knives for France. 

' A further synchronism in this remarkable man's hfe is the 
date of his birth being the year in which the patent of Georgia, 
which made up the thirteen old colonies, was granted, and for 
which he afterwards obtained independence and autonomy. 



The Fall of New France. YJ 

" Villiers went back exultant to Fort Duquesne, 
" burning on his way the buildings of Grist's settle- 
" ment and the storehouse at Redstone Creek. Not 
" an English flag now waved beyond the Allegha- 
" nies." 

I must now direct your attention to another part 
of America, the seat also of continuous dissensions 
and warfare since it was disposed of by the Treaty 
of Utrecht, signed on the 11th of April, 1*713. 

Acadia, the home of the pioneer immigrants of La 
Nouvelle France, suffered more vicissitudes from 
European conflicts than any other portion of the 
American mainland. Alternating according to its 
political fate in name with New Scotland, or Nova 
Scotia, as given to it by the eccentric Sir William 
Alexander, Earl of Stirling, who received the terri- 
tory as a gift from the Scotch King, James YI, and 
1st of England ; — the country remained in the hands 
of a few French fishermen and peasants^ until it 
surrendered permanently to the English on the 2nd 
October, 1*710. At this time, there were but 352 fami- 

1 More than Mitis, for there was a considerable sprinkling of 
Scotch as well as Indian blood among these progenitors of the 
exiled Acadians. — Kameau, La France aux Colonies. 

2 



1 8 The Fall of New France. 

lies in all resident in the Province. They were, by 
the Treaty of Utrecht, allowed their option either to 
retire, with their moveable effects, to any other 
place within a year, or remain, upon becoming sub- 
jects of the Crown of Great Britain. They were also 
to have the free exercise of the Roman Catholic 
religion, so far as the laws of England permit. 

But few emigrated, though nearly all expressed 
their determination of doing so after the next har- 
vest. 

Finding that they remained and showed no inten- 
tion of leaving, Gov. Caulfield requested them, on 
the 3rd May, 1715, to take the oath of allegiance to 
the new King, Greorge 1st. This they refused to do, 
likewise, in 1717, 1719 and 1720. The local English 
Governor was in no position to enforce the oath, 
having but 200 soldiers in garrison, and the French 
population having increased to several thousands. 
The Home Government, with a stolid indifference, 
heeded not the warnings from so unimportant a 
colony, and allowed matters to take their own course, 
presumably relying on the legal assumption that 
the inhabitants, remaining one year after the Treaty, 
in accordance with its terms, became ip^o facto the 



The Fall of New Frmtce. IQ 

subjects of G-reat Britain, whether they took the 
oath or not. 

English settlers gradually coming into the 
Province, their protection and the upholding of 
the authority of England, both military and 
civil, entailed considerable anxiety upon the Local 
Grovernment at Annapolis. This disquietude was 
enhanced by the well-known antipathy the Aca- 
dians bore to everything English. It had already 
been a source of complaint that, under the sacred 
cassock, the servile and credulous Acadian was 
being secretly instructed in political ethics anything 
but friendly to the Local Grovernment. To counter- 
act the danger accruing therefrom, officers were sent 
out in 1Y25 to insist upon an immediate oath of loy- 
alty being taken. Meeting with the usual opposi- 
tion, but determined to have an oath taken, they 
unfortunately modified the form, and had it sub- 
scribed to ; upon which the Acadians ever after- 
wards claimed the character of " Neutrals ! ! " Hiey 
were not to bear arms against the French, English, or 
Indians ! ! 

As soon as this was reported to Lieut.-Gov. 
Armstrong, he repudiated the act of his Officers, and 



20 The Fall of New France. 

submitted the matter to the Home Grovernment, who 
likewise declined to admit the position assumed by 
the Acadians or accept the oath as worded. ^ Gen. 
Richard Philipps, who enjoyed the sinecure position 
of G-overnor-Greneral of the Colony from 1Y17 to 1749, 
returned from England upon the special mission to en- 
force an unconditional oath. This he obtained in 1730 
in the following terms : " Je promets et jure sincere- 
" ment en foi de Chretien que je serai entierement 
" fidele et obeirai vraiment Sa Majeste le Eoi George 
" le Second, que je reconnais pour le Souverain 
" Seigneur de I'Acadie, ou Nouvelle Ecosse. Ainsi, 
" Dieu me soit en aide." ^ Even this oath, plain as it 
is, in effect, was objected to by the Home Govern- 
ment as being insufficiently explicit in terms. '' 

Notwithstanding the admonition given to the 
people and priests, the political sermon still contin- 
ued, and an example having to be made to enforce 

^ Murdock's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. I., p. 437. 

'■^ (Translation.) I promise and swear sincerely, on the faith of 
a Christian, that I will be entirely faithful and truly obey his 
Majesty George 2nd, whom I acknowledge as the Sovereign of 
Acadia, or Nova Scotia. So help me God. 

^ Murdock, idem., p. 457, Vol. I. ; also Nova Scotia Archives, 1869, 
p. 84. 



The Fall of New France. 21 

law and order, Gov. Armstrong, in 1729, ordered Mons. 
Breeley, the priest, to leave the Province within a 
month. An excellent view of the position, from a 
contemporary writer^ of 1748, may here be quoted : 
" Though these inhabitants became English subjects 
" by virtue of the Treaty of Utrecht and their oath 
" of allegiance of 1730 ; yet the French Governor 
" and Bishop in Canada preserved the chief infiu- 
" ence and command over them, and cultivated in 
" them their former hereditary attachment to the 
•* French King ; so that they continued a distinct 
" body of French Roman Catholicks, exempted by 
" the English Government from bearing arms in 
" defence of it, and kept by their priests so unmixed 
" with and separate from the English, that no Eng- 
" lish families could settle among them. The conse- 
" quence of all which was, that the increase of these 
" Acadian s, instead of strengthening the King's 
" Government, as they naturally ought to have 
" done, became dangerous to it, and by remaining 
" in the Province were of much greater service to 
" France, than if they had removed into the French 
" Government (Canada) immediately after the Treaty 
" of Utrecht, as they were a growing stock in Nova 



22 The Fall of New France. 

" Scotia or settling it with French inhabitants, even 
" whilst it was in the hands of the English, and at 
" the same time contributed to the growth of Cape 
" Breton by supi)lying it with provisions."' 

Subsequent events, and the effect of the Treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, having been very ably treated by 
the President at the last meeting of this Society, I 
have only to add, that upon an effort being made to 
get the oath of allegiance taken, after they had been 
again transferred by the French Grovernment to the 
British, on the 18th April, 1748, the usual artifices 
of neutrality were employed to avoid it. 

In 1*755, Halifax and Annapolis Royal had sprung 
into places of considerable importance, and other 
English settlements being rapidly formed, it was 
deemed absolutely necessary to put down, even 
with a harsh hand, the numerous predatory 
and hostile acts the Acadiaus were constantly 
harassing these new settlers with. Murder, rapine 
and open warfare, instigated by them, were incurred 
at the hands of the native Micmacs. Several hun- 
dreds of the former, with a large contingent of the 

^ Memoirs of the Princiiml Transactions of the Last War. London, 
1758, p. 18. 



The Fall of New France. 23 

latter, were found in arms at the forts of Beaubassin 
and Baye-verte. The alarm of the English inhabit- 
ants was widespread, especially as events were 
pointing to another conflict between the crowns of 
England and France at no distant day. This con- 
flict promised to be a war of extermination to one or 
the other party in America. I will again quote the 
position of matters from contemporary writers : — 

John Huske, in his work on the " Present State 
of North America," published both in London and 
Boston in 1755, prior to the Acadian removal, says 
(pages 39-40) : " Since the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
" the French have erected, in Nova Scotia, one fort 
" at Beaubassin and another at Baye-verte. From 
" hence they have furnished the Indians, who make 
" about 300 fighting men, with arms, ammunition, 
" provisions and clothing. Upon our attempt to colo- 
" nize the Province immediately after the late war 
" with France, they spirited up these Indians to war 
" against us, by their ample supplies ; by their 
" giving them a large bounty for every English pri- 
" soner they brought to them, and a much larger for 
" every English scalp they could produce ; by their 
" promising to protect them in their forts, and by 



24 1^^^ /^^// of New France. 

" disguising themselves and occasionally joining the 
" Indians in their enterprizes against our settle- 
" ments, etc., etc. The Indians surprised the village 
" of Dartmouth one night, and, altho' it had a 
" guard of soldiers, they burnt the houses and put 
" both men, women and children to death. The 
" French also, as soon as they had built these two 
" forts, threatened to destroy all the French subjects 
" of his Majesty and burn their settlements without 
" their forts on the peninsula, if they did not retreat 
" into the country within their forts ; therefore they, 
" who have always inclined to the French on account of 
" their religion, etc., though ever indulged in the 
" free exercise of that and every thing else, burnt 
" their houses, destroyed their plantations, and went 
" under the protection of the French, and prove as 
" good subjects of the French king as any he has in 
" America. Contrary to their oath of allegiance, 
" many of them have been detected in joining the 
" French and Indians, both in peace and war, 
" against his Majesty's subjects." 

Another, Dr. William Clarke, in his Ohser- 
vations on the Late and Present Conduct of the 
French with Regard to their Encroachments upon the 



The Fall of New France. 2^ 

British Colonies in North America, published at Boston, 
just prior to the expulsion of the Acadiaus in 1*755, 
states (page 28): "The French inhabitants of Aca- 
" dia are well-known to be better inclined to the 
" French than the English Grovernment, and must 
" eternally be so, as long as they are suffered to 
" have French Roman Catholic priests, subjects of 
" the French king and under the direction of the 
" Bishop of Quebec, among them ; and as the Eng- 
" lish have not one fort, except Annapolis Royal, 
'• that can hold out one day against a proper number 
" of regular forces provided with sufficient cannon, 
" if the French should, before the English are aware 
" of it, send a large body of troops, with necessary 
" artillery, and a number of men-of-war to protect 
" them, the French inhabitants, who amount to many thou- 
" sands, would, upon their first appearance, universally 
" revolt, and the conquest of that whole province 
" would not take up one fortnight. When the French 
" have once made a conquest of this province and 
" strengthened themselves in it, they will have laid 
" a good foundation for dispossessing the English, in 
" some future time, of all their other colonies in 
" North America, and securing them to themselves 
" with all the advantages of them." 



26 The Fall of New France. 

Yet another, — a French contemporary writer — 
BuTEL-DuMONT, iu his Histoire et Commerce des Colo- 
nies Anglaises, published in 1V55, at page 72 states '- 
" La cession qui a ete faite de ce pays a la Grande 
" Bret ague a rendu la Nouvelle Angleterre plus tran- 
" quille et a assure son commerce. Les Anglais ne 
" sont pourtant pas tout- dj-f ait delivres des inquietudes que 
" leur donnaient les alliances des Sauvages avec les Fran- 
" pais. Ces derniers qui habitaient en Acadie n'ayant 
" pas voulu se soumettre a la domination anglaise» 
" se sont retires dans la Graspesie, d'oii ils incommodent 
" leurs voisinsy^ This has reference to the year 1*755, 
when the French inhabitants were supposed to be, 
at least, ''Neutrals!'" Allusion is here made to the 
new English settlement at Chebucto, then named 
Halifax. 

The Memoirs of S. de C,^ a contemporary writer of 

'(Translation.) Butel-Dumont, in his History and Commerce of 
the English Colonics, published in 1755, states : " Tlie cession which 
" had been made of this Country to Great Britain rendered New 
" England more quiet, and secured its commerce. The English 
" were neverthe less, not altogether free from anxiety, occasioned by the 
" alliances o^ the Indians vnth the French. These latter, who inhab- 
" ited Acadia, not being willing to submit to English domination, 
" withdrew to Gasp6 District, from wJdch they worry their neighbors." 

'^ Believed to have been written by Vauquelin, a Captain in com- 
mand of one of the French war vessels in the St. Lawrence, both at 
Louisbourg and Quebec. 



The Fall of New France. 2J 

1*748 to 1Y60, published by the Quebec Literary and 
Historical Society in 1838, at page 60, condemns in 
no unmeasured terms the acts of these native-born 
subjects of England against the charitable treatment 
they had ever received ; his words are : " Le Gouver- 
" neur-G-eneral de I'Acadie voulant egalement retablir 
" I'ordre et la tranquillite dans ce pays, manda aux 
" habitants de venir a Chebuctou (Halifax), y preter 
" au Roy serment de fidelite. Les propositions qu'il 
" fit faire etaient des plus raisonnables ; elles etaient 
'' qu'on leur conserverait les privileges que le traite 
" d'Utretch et la Reine Anne leur avaient accordes : 
" les Acadiens s'imaginerent qu'ils etaient plus craints 
" qu'on ne pensoit ; ils refuserent de faire serment. 
" Le Grouverneur leur repartit : Yous etes reellement 
" sujets du Roy d'Augleterre, vous etes nes sous sa 
" domination, vous I'avez meme souvent reconnu 
" pour tel ; la France sur laquelle vous vous fiez, 
" n'agit que par politique et vous fait jouer le role 
" de rebelles, pour nous inquieter jusque chez nous ; 
" enfin il les mena9a de sevir contre eux, et ajouta 
" que s'ils ne se resolvaient au plus tot, il allait faire 
" tirer les canons de la ville sur eux, afin de s'en de- 
" faire promptement : les Acadiens pousses d'un zele 



28 The Fall of New France. 

" fanatique, excites par les pretres, refuserent cons- 
" tamment d'obeir au Grouverneur, qui ay ant fait re- 
" flexion que sa reputation souffriroit moins de se de- 
" faire de ce peuple en les dispersant, resolut de les 
" faire embarquer par families, et de les envoyer dans 
" les differentes possessions Anglaises dans I'Ame- 
" rique.'" 

Other French authors of the period confirm these 
statements, notably PiCHON in his Lettres et Memoires 
sur Cap Breton, 1760, pp. 239 et seq., while those of our 
day speak as follows : Reveillaud, in his Histoire du 
Canada, page 22, states : " La population totale des 
" Acadiens fran9ais s'elevait a cette epoque a 16,000 
" ames ; de ce nombre 4,000 peut-etre avaient emigre 
" dans les iles du golfe St. Laurent, ou elles se retrou- 

' (Translation.) " The Governor-General of Acadia, wishing 
" to reestablish order and tranquility in the country, requested 
" the Inhabitants to come to Chebuctou (Halifax) and take 
" there the oath of fidelity to the King. The propositions 
•'which he had made to them were of the most reasonable; 
" they were to the effect that they should be confirmed in the 
" privileges given to them at the Treaty of Utrecht and by Queen 
" Anne. The Acadians imagined that the Government were 
" more afraid of them than they actually were. They refused to 
" take the oath. The Governor replied : ' You are in reality sub- 
" ' jects of the King of England ; you are born under his domination, 
" ' you have on several occasions admitted his sovereignty ; France, 



The Fall of New France. 2Q 

" vaient sous le pavilion de la France ; un nombre a 
" pen pres egal s'etait refngie dans les postes encore 
" occupees par les troupes fraucaises autour del'Isth- 
" me de Shediac et c'etaient des Acadiens qui composaient 
" la plus grande partie de la garnison dans les forts de 
" Beausejour et de Gasper eaux que nous venons devoirpris 
" par le colonel Winslow. Le reste des Acadiens, soit 
" done une population de 8,000 habitants, vivaient 
" paisiblement dans leur presqu'ile, sur les terres 
" qui les avaient vus naitre, que leurs peres avaient 
" defrichees et qu'ils cultivaient avec amour, donnant 
" I'exemple de toutes les vertus privees et domestiques. 
" lis avaient subi, sans trop protester, lasouverainete 
" de I'Angleterre, et tout ce qu'ils demandaient, c'e- 
" tait qu'on les laissat cultiver en paix leurs petits 
" domaines et qu'on ne les contraignit pas a porter 

" ' upon which you rely, acts only by policy, and makes you play the 
" ' role of rebels, by which we are annoyed at our very doors.' Fin- 
" ally, he threatened them with severe punishment, and said ' if they 
" ' did not come to an immediate decision, he would have the cannons 
" ' of ihe town turned upon them, to get rid of them summarily.' The 
" Acadians, actuated by a fanatical zeal, instilled by their Priests, 
" constantly refused to obey the Government, who came to the con- 
" elusion that their reputation would suffer less by deporting them 
" and dispersing them, therefore resolved : To embark them by 
" families, and to send them into the different possessions of England 
" in America." 



^0 The Fall of New France. 

" leurs armes centre leurs anciens compatriotes, con- 
" tre les hommes de leur langue, de leur religion et 
" de leur sang. Une sorte de convention tacite s'etait 
" etablie sur ce point entre eux et leurs gouverneurs, et leur 
" avait vain leur nom de 'Fran^ais neutres.'"t 

Kameau, in La France aux Colonies, p. 35, states : " A 
" la suite du traite d'Utreclit le canton des Mines et de 
" Beaubassin, ou se concentraient de plus en plus la 
" majeure partie des Acadiens,G?e??ieMm done Franpais par 
" le fait, qvoique Anglais par les traites ; ils etaient restes 

t (Translation.) Eeveillaud, in his History of Canada, p. 22, states 
" The total population of the French Acadians reached at this epoch 
" 16,000 souls ; of this number about 4000 emigrated to the Islands in 
" the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they were under the French flag 
" an equal number found refuge in the posts occupied by French 
" troops surrounding the Isthmus of Shediac, and it was Acadians 
" who composed the greater part of the Garrisons of the Forts of Beausi- 
" jour and Gaspiraux, which we have just seen captured by Col. Winslow. 
" The remainder of the Acadians, about 8000 Inhabitants,were living 
" quietly in the Peninsula on the lands upon which they were born, 
" which their forefathers cleared and which they themselves culti- 
" vated with love, giving an example of every virtue, private and 
" domestic. They had submitted to, not without protestations, the 
"English Sovereignty; and all they asked in return, was to be 
" allowed to cultivate their lands in peace, and that they should not 
" be obliged to bear arms against their former compatriots, against 
" men of their own language, religion and blood. A sort of tacit 
" agreement was established on this point betiveen them and their Governors, 
" which gave them the name of French Neutrals." 



The Fall of New France. 7^ 

" d'ailleurs en communication par I'isthme de la pres- 
" qu'ile avec les fran9ais du Canada, qui avaient con- 
" serve toutes les cotes du continent, malgre les pre- 
" tentions des Anglais. De la sorte, ces Acadiens, en 
" depit de quelques tiraillements et vexations, de- 
" raeurerent pendant trente a quarante ans dans un 
" etat de neutralite supportable, quoique penible et mal 
" definir' 

Section XIV of the Treaty of Utrecht reads as fol- 
lows : " It is expressly provided, that in all the said 
" places and colonies to be yielded and restored by 
" the Most Christian King, in pursuance of this 
" treaty, the subjects of the said King may have 
" liberty to remove themselves within a year to any 
" other place, as they shall think fit, together with 
" all their moveable effects. But those who are 

^ (Translation.) Rameau, in France in the Colonics, p. 35, states : 
" Following the Treaty of Utrecht, the District of Minas and Beau- 
" bassin, where were concentrated the greater number of the Aca- 
" dians, remained French by the fact, ichile English by the Treaties; the 
" people were, besides, in communication, by way of the Isthmus, 
" with the French of Canada, who retained possession of all the coast 
" of the Continent, in spite of the pretensions of the English. From 
" which, these Acadians, notwithstanding some difficulties and 
" vexations, lived during thirty to forty years in a state of tolerable 
" neutrality, though somewhat painjul and badly defined." 



^2 The Fall of New France. 

" willing to remain there, and to be subject to the 
" Kingdom of G-reat Britain, are to enjoy the free 
" exercise of their religion, according to the usage of 
" the Church of Rome, as far as the laws of G-reat 
" Britain do allow the same." 

Is it not clear, from the very language of this sec- 
tion, not altered by any other, that all remaining 
inhabitants became, ip^o facto, by choice, subjects of 
G-reat Britain? In fact, it was so regarded by the 
Crown at that day, for no oath was requested until a 
new king ascended the throne, when it became one 
of allegiance to him personally as an act of " foi et 
hommage." To the State — the G-overnment — they 
had become British subjects, by tacit consent, in 
remaining residents of the country, and it required 
no further oath to legalize or complete the status. 

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle expressly confirmed 
and reiterated the above clause of the Treaty of 
Utrecht ; thus, the French Acadians were twice 
confirmed British subjects. They had not even the 
privilege granted to them (as by that of Utrecht) of 
having one year in which to decide. This latter 
concession they asked for, and endeavored to claim, 
but the authorities emphatically refused it. 



The Fall of New France. ^^ 

Gov. Cornwallis, of Nova Scotia, in 1*749, left no 

uncertain sound on the subject of their allegiance and 

oath in the minds of his hearers. He stated, in a lengthy 

reply to a deputation : " We have cause to be much 

" astonished at your conduct. This is the third time 

" you have come here, and you do nothing but 

" repeat the same story. To-day, you present us a 

" letter, signed by a thousand persons, in which you 

" declare openly that you will be the subjects of his 

" Britannick Majesty on such and such conditions. 

" It appears to me you think yourselves independ- 

" ent to any government, and you wish to treat with 

" the King as if you were so. But you ought to 

" know that, from the end of the year stipulated in 

" the Treaty of Utrecht for the evacuation of the 

" country, those who chose to remain in the Pro- 

" vince became at once the subjects of G-reat Britain. 

" The treaty declares them such; the King of France 

" declares, in the treaty, that all the French who 

" shall remain in this Province shall be the subjects 

" of her then British Majesty. It would be contrary 

" to common sense, also, to suppose that one can 

" remain in a province, and possess houses and lands 

" there, without being subject to the Sovereign of 
3 



^4 The Fall of New France. 

" that Province. You deceive yourselves, if yon 
" think you are at liberty to choose whether you 
" will be the subjects of the King or no. From the 
" year 1*714, that no longer depended upon you. 
" From that moment you became subject to the laws 
" of Great Britain. You ought to have taken the 
" oath of allegiance to your King the moment you 
" were required to do so. You tell me that Gren. 
" Phillips granted you the reservations you demand ; 
" and I tell you the General who granted you such 
" reservations did not do his duty ; and also that 
" this oath has never, in the slightest degree, 
" lessened your obligations to act always as a sub- 
" ject ought to act. You allow yourselves to he led 
" away by people who find it to their interest to 
" lead you astray. They have made you imagine it 
" is only your oath which binds you to the English. 
" They deceive you. It is not the oath which a 
" king administers to his subjects that makes them 
" subjects. The oath supposes that they are so 
" already. The oath is nothing but a very sacred 
" bond of the fidelity of those who take it. It is only 
" out of pity to your situation, and to your inexpe- 
" rience in the afiairs of government, that we conde- 



The Fall of New France. 3^ 

" scend to reason with you ; otherwise, the question 
" would not be reasoning, but commanding and 
" being obeyed." ' It must here be remembered 
that the oath administered by Phillips^ contained no 
reservation, but they claimed that a verbal one had 
been made by him, which induced them to accept 
the oath. 

No less than five opportunities^ were afibrded to 
them between the years 1Y49 and lt55 to take the 
oath of allegiance ; but upon each occasion they 
positively refused to do so, except with the old reser- 
vation, which could not now be accepted. To defer 
action longer would be pusillanimous, if not degrad- 

' Nova Scotia Archives, 1869, p. 174. 

'^ See ante, p. 20. 

^ As an illustration of one of these "opportunities," I copy, wr- 
batim, the language used : " In the King's name. By order of his 
" Excellency, Charles Lawrbxcb, Esquire, Lieuten?.nt-Governor 
" and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Nova Scotia, or Aca- 
" dia, &c. Proclamation. To the inhabitants and all others, natives 
" of Chignecto, Baie-verte, Tintamar, Chepoudi, St. John's River, and 
" their appurtenances and adjacent parts, and all others, who have 
" not yet made their submissions ; 

" Whereas, most part of the inhabitants of the above and other 
" places have not yet made their submission to the King of Great 
" Britain, but, on the contrary, have demeaned themselves contrary 
" to all orders and loyalty to their proper Sovereign. Therefore, 

" This is to command them to repair immediately to my camp, 



36 



The Fall of New France. 



ino- in the extreme. The first key-note of the 
coming action was in October, 1754, when the Lords 
of Trade wrote to Grov. Lawrence the following : — 
" As to the inhabitants of the district of Chignecto. 
" who are actually gone over to the French at Beau- 
" sejour, if the Chief Justice should be of opinion 
" that by refusing to take the oath without a reserve, 
" or by deserting their settlements to join the French, 
" they have forfeited their title to their lands, we 
" could wish that proper measures were pursued for 
" carrying such forfeiture into execution by legal 
" process." ^ 

On May 10th, 1Y55, Gov. Lawrence writes from 
Halifax to G-en. Braddock, the English Commander-in- 
Chief of the Forces, who was then on his ill-fated ex- 
pedition in the Ohio Valley : — " Should a rupture hap- 
" pen with France (an event founded upon appear- 
" ances and reports), it would be extremely necessary 

" in order to make their submission, bringing along with them all 
" their firearms, swords, sabres, pistols, and all other instruments 
" of war ; in disobedience of which, they shall be treated, as rebels, 
" with military execution. 

" Given at the camp of Chignecto, this thirteenth day of May, 
" 1755. Signed, Robert Monckton." (The Mystery Revealed, 1759, 
p. 257.) 

^ Nova Scotia Archives, 1869, p. 237. 



The Fall of New France. 37 

" for us to keep on our guard I esteem it my duty 
" to acquaint you that, in such case, the three regi- 
" ments, augmented as it is proposed [to a thousand 
" men each], with the scouts, the militia, and all the 
" forces that we can depend upon, will no ways be 
" in proportion to the number of posts which we 
" must be obliged to defend, especially if it be con- 
" sidered that, even in the heart of the Province, we 
" have what they call neutral French — inhabitants 
" well armed, well experienced in the use of arms, 
" and also are connected with the French King ; so 
" that, upon the least attempt which Canada should 
" make to invade us, I believe it is more than pro- 
" bable that they would immediately join them. As 
'• I take this article to be of importance, I thought it 
" my duty to submit it to your reflection." ' 

Before a reply was received from Gren. Braddock, 
circumstances compelled the Grovernor to act 
promptly. Upon receipt of a memorial, couched in 
most offensive tone, of date June 10, 1*755, said to 
have been occasioned by the rumour that a fleet of 
French vessels were close at hand to protect them, he 
sent Capt. Murray to remove their firearms, but this 

^ 27ie Mystery Revealed, 1759, p, 235. 



38 



The Fall of New France. 



officer was so insolently treated, that the Grovernor- 
in-Council, on 4th July, 1755, felt constrained to pass 
the following resolution : — " Council, after considera- 
" tion,were of opinion that directions should be given 
" to Capt. Murray to order the French inhabitants, 
" forthwith, to choose and send to Halifax new 
" deputies with the general resolution of the said 
" inhabitants in regard to taking the oath, and that 
" none of them should, for the future, be admitted 
" to take it after having once refused to do so, but 
" that effectual measures ought to be taken to 
" remove such recusants out of the Province." ^ 

The deputies were informed of this resolution, and 
it was at once read out at the church doors to the 
people. By the end of July, answer had been 
received from all the French settlements to the effect 
that they would take no new oath ; the Council ^ 

^ Nova Scotia Archives, 1869, p. 256. 

^The Council present at this important session were: 
The Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. Charles Lawrence, Major 
in Warburton's regiment of foot, was present at both engage- 
ments at Louisbourg. Councillor, in 1749, in Gov. Cornwallis's 
Cabinet. Colonel in 1757. Administrated the Government of 
Nova Scotia upon tlie retirement of Gov. Hopson. Was appointed 
Lieutenant-Governor, 1754; Governor-in-Chief, 1756- During his 
administration, tlie first Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia was 




fd 



^ (M-0-^ CXtM^-Clf 



■'/ 



The Fall of New France. 39 

thereupon decided — at which were present the Eng- 
lish admirals, Boscawen and Mostyn — that " as it 
" had been determined before to send all the French 
" inhabitants out of the Province if they refused to 
" take the oath, nothing now remained to be consid- 
" ered but what measures should be taken to send 
" them away, and where they should be sent to. 
" After mature consideration, it was unanimously 
" agreed that, to prevent as much as possible their 
" attempting to return and molest the settlers that 
" may be set down on their lands, it would be most 
" proper to send them to be distributed amongst the 

convened at Halifax on the 2nd October, 1758. Died, at Halifax, 
Sunday, 19th October, 1760, after eight days' illness, in the prime 
of life, of inflammation of the lungs. He was unmarried. The 
Legislature voted a monument to his memory, to be erected in St. 
Paul's Church, Halifax. " From a grateful sense of the many 
" important services which the Province had received from him 
" during a continued course of zealous and indefatigable endeavors 
" for the public good, and a wise, upright, and disinterested 
" administration." {Nova Scotia Archives, p. 236.) 

Bexjamin Green. — Native of Massachusetts ; born 1713. Son to 
the Rev. Joseph Green, rector, and a graduate of Harvard. Mer- 
chant in Boston. Secretary to Gen. Pepperell at Louisbourg, 1745. 
One of Gen. Cornwallis's Council in 1749. Treasurer of the Pro- 
vince of Nova Scotia. Administrator of the Government in 1766. 
Died at Halifax, 1772. {Nova Scotia Archives p. 569.) 

John Collier. — The Hon. John Collier was a retired officer of the 
army. He came out with the tirst British settlers in 1749. Was a 



AO The Fall of New France. 

" several colonies on the continent of America, and 
" that a sufficient number of vessels should be hired 
" with all possible expedition for that purpose." ^ 

The die was cast, the irrevocable decree was 
issued. Let us pass over, as rapidly as we can, the 
harrowing details of the final troubles of a mis- 
guided people — far from as perfect and amiable as 
Longfellow, in his beautiful dramatic poem, " Evan- 
geline," has sung, or that the Abbe Raynal, in his 
pathetic and romantic narrative, would feign have 
us believe ; but sufficiently innocent of mundane 
matters to have been happy in their rural retreats 
— homes of guileless innocence and complacent trust, 

justice of the peace and militia officer. Appointed Councillor, 1752. 
Died at Halifax, 1769. 

William Cotterbll.— Capt. Cotterell was the first Provost 
Marshal, Councillor 1752, and Provincial Secretary. 

John Rous.— Master of a Boston privateer. Captain in Royal 
Navy, 1745. Present at Louisbourg and Quebec. A brave and 
intrepid officer. Councillor, October 1754. Died at Halifax, 1760. 

Jonathan Belcher. — Second son of Gov. Belcher of Massachu- 
setts. Graduate of Harvard. Completed studies in England, where 
he became a member of the Society of the Middle Temple. Chief 
Justice of Nova Scotia in 1754. Administrator of the Government 
upon the death of Gov. Lawrence in 1760. Died at Halifax 1766, 
aged 65. 

By invitation. — The Hon. Vice-Admiral Boscawen and Rear- 
Admiral Mostyn. 

1 NovaScotia Arddves, 1869, p. 267. 



The Fall of New France. ZLI 

where communism in its most favorable aspect ruled 
and thrived — were it not for the machinations and 
intrigues of their spiritual preceptors ; who, forget- 
ting their sacred mission and adopting that of the 
political demagogue, obtained easy victims in the 
pious, artless, and intellectually deficient Acadian, 
incapable of penetrating the delusive chimera they 
presented to their vision, of French ascendency once 
more in Nova Scotia ! 

Self-condemned, and without evasion or prevari- 
cation, they admitted the allegations brought against 
them of allegiance to the French Nation, the open foe 
of the English ; of cooperating, assisting, intriguing 
with the native Indians, in their more open warfare 
upon the English settlers ; and thus, authors of their 
own misery, they had now to take the punishment 
decreed by retributive Justice, harsh and malevolent 
as it may seem.^ 

^ Extract from Petition of 3500 escaped Acadians, retired to Mira- 
michi in spring of 1756, addressed to Gov. de Vaudreuil, Quebec, in 
May 1756 :— 

" The inhabitants of all Acadie, represented by their deputies, 
" have the honor to expose to you their melancholy fate, and that 
" into which they are ready to fall, if you do not hold out the hand 
" of succor. They heg you to observe that the sole cause of their misery is 
" their exclusive attachment to France, and their character of subjects of 



4 2 The Fall of New France. 

Sufficient to say, the summons from Col. John 
Winslow, to meet iu the church at G-rand-Pre on the 
5th September, 1*755, was fully attended by the eld- 
ers, who were immediately made prisoners, and 
addressed in the following terms : '* G-entlemen, — 
" I have received from His Excellency, Gov. Law- 
" rence, the King's commission, which I have in my 
" hand ; and by his orders you are convened together, 
" to manifest to you His Majesty's final resolutions to 
" the French inhabitants of this his Province of Nova 
" Scotia, who, for almost half a century, have had 
" more indulgence granted them than any of his 

" that crown, which the English have been unable to constrain them to 
" renounce. Brought up by their fathers in uniform sentiments of devo- 
" tion to their King, whose kindnesses they have on different occasions 
«' experienced ; can they, without failing in duty to their rehgion and 
" to themselves, ^iye in to the terms exacted of them, especially at a time 
" when France in arms takes openly the part of avenging them, etc. Do 
" not their actual misery, that wliich they have done, and tlieir constant 
'• refusal to obey the English, speak in their favor f And do they not 
" destroy the bad impressions that some persons have tried to give 
'' you in the business of Beausejour ! Observe, my lord, their 
" perplexity at that critical period ; alternately intimidated and 
" caressed by an English army superior to the French forces, they 
" dared neither to act or speak. Besides, why were they not led 
" AGAINST the ENEMY ?" — (Murdock's Nova Scotia, Vol. II., p. 312.) 

The full force of this petition will be better understood by refe- 
rence to De Vaudreuil's letter of the 18th September, 1755, to the 
Minister of Marine and Justice, published at length in Vol. X., 



The Fall of New France. 43 

" subjects in any part of his dominions ; what use 
" you have made of it, you yourselves best know. 
" The part of duty I am now upon, though neces- 
" sary, is very disagreeable to my natural make and 
" temper, as I know it must be grievous to you, who 
" are of the same species ; but it is not my business 
" to animadvert, but to obey such orders as I receive, 
" and therefore, without hesitation, shall deliver you 
" His Majesty's orders and instructions, namely: — 
" that your lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds 
" and live stock of all sorts, are forfeited to the 

N. Y. Colonial Documents, p. 358. This letter fully proves the 
complicity of the Canadian Government in their efibrt to raise the 
Acadians in open rebellion against English authority. 

In the judgment of the court-martial, 20th September, 1757, 
upon the Sieurs Vergor and De Villeray for surrendering the forts 
Beaus^jour and Gasperaux, is the following : " L'avis unanime A. 
'• 6t6 de renvoyer les officiers absous ; on a eu ^gard pour le fort de 
" Beaus^jour, a ce que les Acadiens ont forc>4 le commandant k 
" capituler pour assurer leurs vies. lis avaient, autrefuis, preti 
" serment de fidSlite d, I'Anglaift, qui les avait menaces de les faire 
" pendre pour V avoir viole." — (Ferland, Cours d'Histoire de Can ada 
p. 556.) 

(Translation.) The unanimous opinion was to discharge the 
Officers absolved, on the ground that they were obliged to surren- 
der the Fort de Beausejour because the Acadians compelled them 
to do so to save their lives. They had previously taken the oath of 
fidelity to England, who threatened to hang them for having violated it. — 
(Ferland's History of Canada, p. 556.) 



44 The Fall of New France. 

" Crown ; with all other your effects, saving your 
" money and household goods, and you yourselves 
" to be removed from this his Province. Thus it is 
" peremptorily his Majesty's orders, that the whole 
" French Inhabitants of these Districts be removed ; 
" and I am, through his Majesty's Goodness, directed 
" to allow you liberty to carry off your money and 
" household goods, as many as you can without dis- 
" commoding the vessels you go in. I shall do every 
" thing in my power that all these goods be secured 
" to you, and that you are not molested in carrying 
" them off; and also that whole families shall go in 
" the same vessel, and make this remove, which I am 
" sensible must make you a great deal of trouble, as 
" easy as his Majesty's service will admit ; and hope 
'* that in whatever part of the world you may fall, you 
" may be faithful subjects, a peaceable and happy 
" people. I must also inform you, that it is his 
" Majesty's pleasure that you remain in security 
" under the inspection and direction of the troops 
" I have the honor to command." ^ 

Summing up from Winslow's Journal, as pub- 
lished by the Nova Scotia Historical Society at pages 

' Window^ Journal, N. S. Hist. Soc, Part III., p. 94. 




^oU^ fVtyn^crlAi 



The Fall of New France. z[^ 

V2, 185, 190, 192 : — 5Y88 men, women and children 
were, all told, thus exiled, from October 1755 to 
January 1756, with as much humanity as the trans- 
port of such a large number of people in small vessels 
permitted. Ev^ery care was taken to avoid separation 
of the families, and this end was attained with but 
few disunited family groups ; the few which did 
occur, were occasioned by escape from capture.' 

The appended copies of orders from Col. Winslow 
will be sufficient to show the charitable feelings 
with which this urbane commander carried out the 
most disagreeable duty (he so often reiterates 
in his journal) it was ever his province to execute. 
" October 6, 1755. — With the advice of my captains, 
" made a division of the Villages, and concluded, 
" that as many of the Inhabitants of each as could be 
" commoded should proceed in the same vessel, and 
" that whole families go together ; and sent orders to 
" the several families to hold themselves in readiness 



^ Some authors maintain that a much larger number were 
exiled; this is impossible, as Acadia, in 1754, only contained 9215 
inhabitants all told, and it is admitted that fully 3540 escaped 
capture (Cf. Rameau, La France aux Colonies, Vol. I., p. 42) and set- 
tled in Canada and that part of Massachusetts Bay now known as 
the State of Maine. (See Petition Note, p. 41.) 



46 



The Fall of New France. 



" to embark with all their household goods, etc., but 
" even now could not persuade the People I was in 
" earnest. — Orders of the day. Parole Plympton. J. 

"WlNSLOW."^ 

" Camp at G-rand-Pre, October 13, 1^55. — Whereas 
" complaint has been made to me by the French 
" Inhabitants that they are greatly injured, as well 
" by Seamen as People who come after cattle, etc., 
" These are therefore to direct that no Seaman, with- 
" out the Master of the Vessel being with him, or an 
" order in writing from the Master, showing their 
" business, be allowed to pass higher than the Dutch- 
" man's house, nor on the other side of the River 
" Gaspereau. Nor any Englishman or Dutchman 
" stir from their quarters without orders ; that an 
" end may be put to distressing this distressed 
" people ; and I have given directions to all march- 
" ing parties and patrols to pick up all such people 
" as disobey these orders, and bring them to camp 
" that they may receive punishment military ; and 
" the Masters of Vessels severally are to notify their 
" respective Crews of this order. John Winslow."^ 

' Windows Journal,^. 164. 
^ Winslowh Journal, p. 171. 



The Fall of New France. AJ 

Provision was made in the charter parties of the 
Vessels, that not more than one person was to be taken 
to two ton's measurement, and ample victuals were 
stored for thirty days passage. Letters to the Grov- 
ernors of the different Colonies were handed to each 
Captain for delivery upon arrival,' but, unfortunately, 
no previous notice had been sent, though the deputa- 
tion had been agreed upon by the Commander-in- 
Chief of the forces Braddock, and the chief instigator 
of the movement Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts 
Bay, who had advocated strongly since 1Y45 both 
the banishment and the capture of Louisbourg. 

They were landed, under these orders, in Massa- 
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas. 
Aliens in language, nationality and religion, they 
were not very welcome immigrants, especially from 
the circumstances under which they came, and yet 
with but few trifling exceptions, they were humanely 
treated and supported at public expense ; throwing 
into bold relief, the cold and repellant reception the 
three thousand refugees who found their way into 
Canada met with at the hands of their fellow country- 

^ See copies in Nova Scotia Archives, p. 277. Pennsylvania which 
received 1923 of the number, expended over £7500 on their support 
of pubUc funds. (Penn. Hist. Soc. Vol. for 1858, pp. 285 et seq.) 



48 



The Fall of New France. 



men, who gave them hides and horse-flesh as food, 
and scant supply at this, as many of them, it is 
recorded on the dark pages of French-Canadian his- 
tory, died from starvation/ 

Politically speaking, the expulsion was absolutely 
necessary, justified and in full accord with the law 
of Nations, to such an extent that not even France 
itself, nor a solitary Foreign Power, alluded to it, in 
its diplomatic relations, or remonstrated, with Eng- 
land for the act. Not even is it a casus belli on the 
part of France, and yet many insignificant and tri- 

^ lis furent done reduits a presque mourir de faim : le peu de 
nourriture qu'ils avaient, la mauvaise qualite des alimentb, - 
leur malproprete naturelle, — le chagrin et leur paresse en firent 
mourir un grand nombre ; ils furent forces de manger du cuir 
bouilli pendant une grande partie de I'hiver, et d'attendre ainsi 
jusqu'au printemps dans I'esperance que leur sort s'am^liorerait ; 
c'est en quoi ils furent trompfe. — (Memoires Sur le Canada depuis 
1749 jusqu'd 1760; Quebec, 1838, p. 62. Cf. de Montcalm en Canada, 
pp. 111-112.) 

(Translation.) They were reduced almost to death by starvation. 
The little quantity of food they had ; the bad quality of the provi- 
sions, — their natural uncleanliness, — grief and indolence caused 
many deaths. They were forced to eat boiled hide during a great 
part of the winter, and to abide thus the coming of the spring, in 
the hope that their position would then be improved, in which hope 
they were much mistaken. — Memoirs on Canada, 1749 to 1760. 
Quebec, 1838, p. 62. Cf. Montcalm in Canada (by Abbe Martin), pp. 
111-112. 



The Fall of New France. zLQ 

vial grounds, as compared therewith, are specifically 
mentioned in the Declaration of War. Sufficient to 
show that France fully recognised that England had 
a perfect right to treat her own subjects, when 
disloyal, as she saw fit. 

Precedents for this deportation unfortunately exist 
in all epochs of the World's History. Analogy may 
be found in ancient times, in the removal of the 
Messenians by the Spartans, and in the dispersal of 
the Jewish race by the Romans. In mediaeval his- 
tory, we have that remarkable siege of Calais by 
Edward the Third in 134Y, resulting in the expul- 
sion of several thousands of the French who refused 
to take the oath of allegiance. After 210 years Eng- 
lish occupation, France reconquered it, and in turn 
expelled unmercifully the English, without the 
option of oath-taking to remain. 

In more modern times, we have the precedent of 
the French in the expulsion of 2500 English Inhab- 
itants of forty years standing, — differing from the 
Acadians in being men of wealth, intelligence and 
culture — from St. Christopher's in 1666 ; sufficiently 
justified and heroic to warrant the Grovernment 
striking a commemorative medal^«c-smz7e of which 
4 



^0 The Fall of New Fraitce. 

is given herein. "We have that vain-glorious capture 
of New York and Albany in 1689, proposed so 
artfully by the Sieur Chevalier de Callieres Bon- 
nevue, Governor of Montreal, to the Marquis of 
Seignelay, and adopted by the Court of France in 
their instructions to the Compte de Frontenac. By 
this proposal, it was intended to capture these two 
places, destroy the habitations, lay waste the coun- 
try, and "If he find among the inhabitants of New 
" York, whether English or Dutch, any Catholics 
" on whose fidelity he considers he can rely, he 
" may leave them in their habitations, after making 
" them take the oath of allegiance to his Majesty. The 
" ofScers and principal inhabitants, from whom 
" ransoms can be exacted, must be detained in prison. 
" Respecting all other foreigners, — men, women and 
" children — his Majesty deems it proper that they 
" should be put out of the colony and sent to New 
" England, Pennsylvania and such other quarters as 
" shall be considered expedient, either by land or 
'* sea, together or in divisions, all according as he shall 
'* find will best secure their dispersion and prevent them, by 
" reunion, affording enemies an opportunity to get 
" up expeditions against that colony." ^ Adopting, 
^ Documentary History of New York, Vol. I., p. 295. 



Me'dAULES SUR I E REGNE DE LoiilS LE Gr AND, <)e 




LES ANGLOIS CHASSEZ DE L'ISLE 
D E SAINT C II R 1 S T O P H L E. 



L 



Isle de Saint Ciirillophlc , abondancc en fucrc, en tabac, &C au- 
rrcs marchandifcs , eft imc dc ccllcs qu'on appcllc Antilles , ficucc dans 
lamer dc rAmcriqucnicridionale. Les Francois & les Angloiss'y cfta- 
blirent en 1616, &c pour (c dclivrer dcs inconvenients, qu'ils cfprou- 
voicnt a la poflcdcr en ccmmun , ils s'avifcrcnt de la partagcr cntrc cux 
cgalemcnt. Chacun joiiin'oit pailiblcment de fa moitic , lorfquc la guer- 
re dc r Anglctcrrc , & dc la France en Europe paffa jufqu'en Amcrique , 
Sc mitaux mains Icurs Colonies. Lc (]ouverneur Anglois, qui Ic premier 
cut avis dc la rupture cntrc les deux Nations, voulut s'cn prcvaloir, & fe 
mit en cftat de furprcndrc les Francois. Mais ceux-cy, avcrtis de fon dcf- 
fein, par fes mouvements &: par fcs preparatihs, ofcrcnr,quoi qu'inferieurs 
en nombre, Icprevcnir; attaquercnt ruccclFivcmcnt divers poftcs que 
la Colonic Angloifc occupoit, Sc Ten chaflercnt. Ils nc fe dccouragc- 
rent pas mefmc par la mort dc Icur Chef, tuc des la feconde attaquc. 
lis pourfuivircnt Icur cntrcprifc aulfi licurcufcmcnr qu'ils Favoicnt com- 
nicncee, forccrent les enncmis dc rendre par capitulation Icurs Forts, 
Icur canon, Icurs amies, &r dcmcurcrcnt fculs pofl'effcurs d'unc Ifle fi 
importantc au commerce dcs Indcs Occidcnralcs. 

C'cft lc fujct de cette Mcdaillc. On y voit une Feninic vcftuc a I'A- 
mcricainc, ayanc a fcs picds un Bouclier aux Amies d'Anglctcrrc, &; ap- 
puycc fur un Bouclier aux Armcs de France. La I cgendc , C olon 1 .\ 
F R AN c o R u M s T A B r L I T A , figuific , Li Coloftic Frdncoife affrniic. 
L'Excrgue , Anglis nx Insula Sancti Christophori 
E X T u R B A T I s. M . DC. L X V 1 . Ics Aiiglois ch^ijf'cz, dc I'l/Jc cU S.iirit Chri- 
fofhlc 1666. 




The Fall of New France. Cl 

almost verbatim, this same course, the Council at 
Halifax puts into execution this bold, cruel project, 
hut against the very originators of it. 

Humanly speaking-, the dispersal of so many 
families, at one fell blow, from fi lends and relations 
(not without warning, however, for we find the 
English Grovernment alluding to the possible neces- 
sity of the step, so early as the 28th December, 
1720, ^ and constantly repeated since), was an act of 
refined cruelty, our humane feelings at the present 
day revolt at. While reciprocal policy, acting 
under the Biblical instruction of an " eye for an 
eye, tooth for tooth," may condone the act, it is a 
healthy sign of advancing civilization and good 
augury for the future peace and welfare of mankind, 
that so many important writers of the present day, 
sinking historical truths and facts, in their anxiety 
to condemn the deportation, combine in lamenting 
and execrating this sad event of Nova Scotia history. 

The course of the narrative of the expulsion has 
somewhat interfered with the order of other impor- 
tant events as they arose. In 1*754, France fully 
awakened to the fact that England not only intended 

> Murdock's Nova Scotia, p. 381. 



C2 The Fall of New France. 

to maintain her position in the wilds of America, 
but likewise by sea. She equipped an armament, 
under the command of Admirals Macnamaraand Bois 
de la Mothe, of eighteen ships of the line and nine 
frigates, having on board, ostensibly for Canada, 
eleven battalions of troops under Greneral Dieskau? 
an eUve of Marshal Saxe. England, apprised of this 
force being sent, despatched Yice-Admiral Bos- 
cawen with eleven ships of the line and one fri- 
gate to intercept it en route. Both sailed about the 
same time, the 22ud of April, 1Y55. The French 
Ambassador at London being duly notified, replied : 
" That his royal master would consider the first gun 
" fired at sea in a hostile manner, to be a declaration 
" of war."' ' 

The esoteric instructions of the French fleet were 
to rendezvous at Chebuctou Harbour, destroy Hali- 
fax and then proceed to Annapolis for the same 
purpose.^ While the instructions were of necessity 
secret ; it was well known in Acadia that an 
attempt would soon be made by France to recover 
possession of the Province. It was this fleet, 
so eagerly expected by the Acadians, that gave 

' Entick, His^tory of the War, 1765, Vol. I., 127. 
^Pichon, Memoir es sur Cap Breton, 1760, p. 264. 



The Fall of New France. ^^ 

rise to the insolent manner in which they addressed 
the Council at Halifax, and which led to an immedi- 
ate removal of their arms and subsequent dispersal. 

Owing to misadventure, some of the French fleet 
under Macnamara, had to put back to Brest ; the 
remainder met the English off the coast of New- 
foundland in a dense fog, avoiding an engagement, 
several of them escaped by taking the northern route 
via Belleisle, — the first instance in which it is known 
to have been traversed, and which led to this route 
being preferred in the future — successfully reaching 
their " harbour of refuge," Louisbourg. 

The " Lys " and the " Alcyde " were sufiiciently 
unfortunate to be compelled to face the guns of the 
English frigates "Dunkirk" and "Defiance," and 
after five hours close engagement the " Lys " struck 
its colors, — a sad premonition of the future downfall 
of the Bourbon emblem on the coast of America, — 
followed by the "Alcyde," when Hocquart in com- 
m.and, became Boscawen's prisoner by sea for the 
third time, together with i5Y6,000 sterling in money, 
eight companies of soldiers and several officers and 
engineers.^ 

1 Entick, Ristory of the War, 1765, Vol. I., p. 138. 



54 The Fall of New France. 

The unexpected rencontre with Boscawen's fleet, the 
loss of two of their vessels, and the knowledge that 
the garrison at Halifax was considerably reinforced 
by the forces brought out by Boscawen ; caused the 
abandonment of all attempts to recover Acadia. Die- 
skau, after landing a few regiments at Louisbourg, 
proceeded to Quebec. 

Reprisals by sea and land naturally followed. 
England, with a formidable fleet of one ship of 110 
guns, five of 100 each, thirteen of 90, eight of 80, five 
of *74, twenty-nine of 70, four of %^, one of 64, thirty- 
three of 60, three of 54, twenty-eight of 50, four of 
44, thirty-five of 40, forty-two of 20, four of 18, two 
of 16, eleven of 14, thirteen of 12, one of 10, besides 
a great number of bomb-ketches, fire-ships and ten- 
ders ; a force sufficient to oppose the united maritime 
strength of all the powers of Europe : — as against that 
of France's six ships of 80 guns, twenty-one of 74, 
one of 72, four of 70, thirty-one of 64, two of 60, six 
of 50, and thirty-two frigates, had very little to fear 
by sea.^ 

1 Tomlin's History of England, Vol. III., p. 198 ; cf. Entick, Vol. 
I., p. 2. 



The Fall of New France. ^ C 

General Edward Braddock^ was despatched to the 
New England Colonies, on behalf of England, with 
2000 regulars. He assembled the Provincial Gover- 
nors at Alexandria, in YirgiDia, for a conference; the 
result of which was that some of the Colonies agreed 
to furnish money and men for the coming contest. 
This was of no small import. England, while rich 
in naval resources, was sadly deficient as a military 
power. Threatened by invasion at her own doors ; 
trammelled by obligations to protect the family pos- 
sessions of the Hanoverian King ; protector, by treaty 
alliances, to many small States, she had as much on 
hand as she had men and means to make use of. 
"Without, therefore, the assistance of the American 
Colonies at the beginning of the "War, her future 
as an American Power would have indeed been 
problematical. But fortunately the Congress, con- 
vened at Alexandria, accepted the War as their own. 

With a population of 1,200,000 inhabitants as 
against 100,000 in Canada, a crushing issue, if har- 
mony of counsel prevailed, could not be long defer- 
red. Unfortunately, local jealousies between the 

^ A man desperate in his fortune, brutal in his behaviour, obsti- 
nate in his sentiments, intrepid and capable. — Waljtolels Memoirs, p. 
390. 



c6 Tr.-: Fall of Nen France. 

Colonies alrriij existed, and Staie rights Trere poe- 
sibly eveiL n:re Zrilinsly considered and gnaxded 
then. ihi::i --^7 7: sent day. Some 

considered ii.e VT^z .; _ : . st to them, and 
declined t? f^Lmish leTie? v. _ tt. Some \ranted 
a m.ort 7 :_! _ _ .'emeu: oi the 

troops. Some ^vanied to be generals before "iej 
•were soldiers. The result ^ras thai the bnrden fell 
on the more willing Colonies " : . T — i.jhtLsetts Bay 
and Xe\r York : the disparity :_ _ . _ .^iiion between 
the two c-ontending Powers in Am-^Ti:-! vr-zs thtis 
leTelied. and the "VTar pre. _. 1 _ /. -xpect- 

ation. 

The operations for IToo were adopted as follows : ^ 
r ^ :k. as C : 7 - - - -Chie£ W&5 

— iria wi:„ _ . . . _ _ to attack F : . : ^ :. _ .. — _ . 

on the Ohio. Se^z-ondly. t^tro regiments "were to be 
detached by the Hudson Siver. the ]!'I:li~> Siver 

^ -T "-rht tte intereatdn^ to nose thar Thoiii25 Pcwn^JL 'jirTersor 

^^T-5ec3 Rij. ^"nen. Tip?n a Tisii to Enrlazii in 17o6. laM 

- -r B^ Hon. ilr. Stcre^aiy Kiu ihe ftill srhesie ■j£ •:^jei3si«is 

which psove*! so snecessfoL zsA wMeh were c-irrieti cg» as he map- 

pe»i them. He further esfir^&i oo. the Frr-^I-gh «3>:- :: "- ,5 

■views : that nz' peac« ccdd exisu in Aine^rrca mitil Fr- na- 

- OTerthrC'wn. — -P^i-'crviL^i A 

'- r>5. o. 245 rf iiiU\ 



TJie Fall of Ne\v France. ^ J 

and Lake Oneida to Oswego (a British Post on Lake 
Ontario) from ■svhence they "were to proceed to attack 
the new French Fort at Niagara. 

Thirdly, a corps of Provincial troops was to be 
sent to blockade Crown Point, a post on Lake Cham- 
plain, which the French had occnpied in force. 
Lastly, the disposable troops. regnlaTS and provin- 
cials, from Xova Scotia and Massachusetts, abont 
2000 men. -were to attack the French settlements in 
the Bay of Fnndy. and particularly Fort Beansejotir. 
situated on the isthmus connecting the peninsula of 
Xova Scotia with the continent, the result of "which 
latter I have already laid before you." 

This was the first determined scheme of operations, 
adopted by unanimous voice. haTing for its object 
the project of total extinction of French power on 
American soil, which had occupied the minds of the 
New England Colonists, since 1690. 

G-eneral Braddock. with a detachment of 1200, 
pushed on in advance of the main body of his troops, 
and reached his bivouac ground about the 8th July, 
1755. Though fully forewarned of ambuscades and 
surprises, he ridiculed them and while advancing 

^ Pridi of the Warg in Canada, by General Smyth, p. 44. 



58 



The Fall of New France. 



on the following day upon Fort Daquesne, he rea- 
dily fell a victim to his own rashness from a force of 
350 Canadians under De Beaujeu, and 600 to 700 
Indians under Athanase a Lorette Indian and Pontiac 
(the ce.ebrated Indian Chieftain of after years), in 
which he was very signally defeated, receiving his 
own death-wound after five horses had been shot 
under him. Seigneur Daniel Lienard de Beaujeu, the 
commandant, who had so successfully laid this 
ambuscade, a Canadian by birth and an officer of 
high intelligence, spirit and promise, most regretfully 
fell at the first onslaught. Washington was again 
in this defeat, and was among the very few ofiicers 
who escaped the slaughter by the Indians which 
ensued. Sixty-four English ofiicers and TOO men 
were killed and wounded, while the loss of the 
French was trivial. The balance of Braddock's com- 
mand, under Colonel Dunbar, retreated to Fort 
Cumberland, Virginia; form thence they joined 
Shirley's force at Albany.^ 

The efiect of so overwhelming a victory for the 

' ( Walpoh Memoirs, p. 392, states the English loss was thirty offi- 
cers killed, thirty wounded ; 300 men killed. There was no scalp- 
ing, no torture, no pur.suit, and that not more than fifty of the enemy 
were slain.) 



The Fall of New France. ^Q 

French, on the excitable nature of the Indian led to 
most disastrous consequences and more than any 
other cause, alienated them for several years from 
English alliances. Their peculiar mode of warfare, 
that of detached parties, slaying and scalping the 
inhabitants of all isolated hamlets, was immediately 
carried out throughout the Pennsylvania and Vir- 
ginia frontiers and among the Moravian missionary 
establishments in the Ohio Valley, where scenes of 
cruelty and torture were of daily occurrence, many 
narratives of which, well authenticated, have come 
down to us as evidence of this disastrous defeat at 
Braddock's Fields. 

The expedition against Crown Point was commit- 
ted to the care of William Johnson, who became 
famous, in the annals of British Canada, in subduing 
the unfriendly Indians to British rule. This gentle- 
man, a native of Ireland, nephew to Admiral Sir 
Peter Warren (the naval commander, in the previous 
war, at the taking of Louisbourg 1745), had long 
resided on the banks of the Mohawk River, in the 
western part of New York State. He was very pop u- 
lar with the native races and had an unbounded 
influence over them, speaking their language with 



6o The Fall of New France. 

fluency and marrying, according to Indian rites, into 
their family. The English Government depended 
entirely upon his efforts to obtain alliance with the 
diiferent nations and as a reward for same and his 
victory at Fort William Henry, Lake Greorge, he was 
made a Baronet on the 2*7th of November, 1^55, and 
was voted by the English Parliament a gratuity of 
$20,000. 

Johnson, in September 1*755, advanced with 1200 
men to Fort William Henry, where he was unex- 
pectedly attacked on the 11th September by Baron 
Dieskau, Commander-in-Chief of the French forces at 
the head of 2000 men, but successfully defeated them 
and made Dieskau (who had been severely wounded) 
a prisoner. He was not exchanged, and remained a 
prisoner at New York until the Peace of 1763. In 
this engagement fell Hendrick, the celebrated Chief- 
tain and Orator of the Mohawk race, and Grrand 
Chief of the Six Nations, who, personally friendly 
to the English, had joined them with a few followers 
the year previous. With exception of the Mohawks, 
the Iroquois as a body were more favourable to 
the French until 1^59. In this very engagement 
they were on both sides. This action, though decisive 



The Fall of New France. 6l 

in favor of the English, was followed by no im- 
portant consequence, as it was deemed too late in 
the season to proceed against Crown Point. 

The utter failure of Shirley's expedition against 
Niagara, which reached Oswego only and then 
retreated by Albany, closed the campaign of 1755, 
which, on the whole, was regarded as disadvantage- 
ous to the English in America. By sea, captures 
had been made of 300 trading vessels belonging to 
France, with about 8000 sailors, which were brought 
into the ports of England. 

Thus ended what might be termed the piratical 
year 1755, for in the absence of a declaration of war, 
conquests made could not be, by the law of nations, 
legitimately retained. The vessels captured were 
sequestered and cargoes inventoried, for compensa- 
tion to owners later on. 

Adversity making strange bed-fellows, was never 
better exemplified than in the shuffle now proposed. 
Former hereditary enemies were to extend the right 
hand of fellowship and work hand and glove in 
crushing their former allies. The political map of 
Europe was, pro tempore, to be completely metamor- 
phosed. 



62 The Fall of New France. 

France, feeling her inferiority by sea, deter- 
mined to attack England through her King, 
George II., in his personal property of Hanover. 
She at once dispatched an army of 200,000 
men to invade this territory. England seeking an 
ally, found one in Prussia, who had become estranged 
from her of recent years ; her former ally, Austria, 
withdrawing from the treaty obligations entered 
into with England, on the pretext that the war had 
begun in America, in which she had no interest. 
Austria then joined France, and was only too glad 
to form an alliance with so powerful a military 
nation, who could assist her against Prussia in re- 
conquering from the Fatherland the Province of 
Silesia, lost in the last war. France also obtained 
Russia, Sweden and Poland as allies ; all were until 
recently her open enemies, and enemies to each 
other. Thus the parties were ripe for the great 
War of the Seven Years, destined to encircle the 
world in fire and brimstone, and which was form- 
ally proclaimed by England on the 18th of May, 
1*756, and by France in June following, the en- 
croachments in America being the burden of both 
declarations. 



The Fall of New France. 6^ 

Prussia was the chief seat of battle in Europe ; 
Canada and the "West Indies in America ; India in 
Asia. Eni^land played but a secondary part on the 
European side ; the heat of her battle being felt by 
France in America and the Indies. "With inexplicable 
bad judgment France neglected, in fact abandoned 
her colonies, and devoted her attention to the 
European conflict, in which she eventually gained 
nothing. 

The Court of France was singularly constituted at 
the inception of this war. Louis XV. had all along 
his career abandoned himself to a life of pleasure 
and dissipation. "With the decadence of the French 
power at the death of his grandfather, the youthful 
King, under the example of the dissolute Prince 
Regent, never attempted to elevate himself above his 
immoral and vicious surroundings. The reflex of 
the Court, being an absolute power, upon the people 
occasioned an apathy for national glory which was 
truly lamentable. France, careless of her interests, 
gradually sunk deeper and deeper her prestige and 
priority as a commercial and colonizing power of 
the 17th century ! From 1685 to 1712 the French 
fleets had humbled the allied squadrons of England 



64 



The Fall of New France. 



and Holland and for this period only in the world's 
history she held the supremacy of the seas, a legacy 
of the great and incomparable commercial minister, 
Colbert. But once since was she able to hold her 
head aloft from the debasement in which her King 
had placed her and then only through the means of 
a foreigner and Calvinist, the Marshal Saxe, a vic- 
tory which Catholic France reluctantly accepted. 
To Richelieu, Louis XIV. and Louvois, Canada owed 
its religious nationality, more Catholic than Rome 
itself, a nation in which it was death for an heretic 
to enter ; " to live in New France is in truth to live 
in the bosom of Grod," wrote a pious Jesuit Father. 
To Louis XV. all of this was as chaff before the 
wind, a heritage which had no further value to him 
than the revenues he could derive to squander on 
his mistresses and pleasures abroad. 

The inanition of the King had naturally an effect 
on the Court. But few men of ability or self-respect 
would permit themselves to be under the dictation 
of the King's mistresses, to whom he had dele- 
gated all regal power. Already had begun the con- 
flict between State and Parliament, which, as in the 
reign of Charles L of England ended in the complete 



The Fall of New France. 6^ 

overthrow of the dynasty and the sacrifice of the 
succeeding King's head. 

France at this time was under the control of Jeanne 
Antoinette Poisson, a daughter of a butcher, now cre- 
ated Marquise de Pompadour. She was elevated, by 
capturing the King's heart, into being the reign- 
ing absolute Minister of France and fully exercised 
the powers conferred on her. Making and unmak- 
ing cabinets, formulating and dissevering political 
connections, nominating and dismissing commanders- 
in-chief at will, the Marquise was recognized as the 
leading power in the Court of France, her ambition 
and pride being alone satisfied when addressed by 
the Courts of Austria and Spain as " Ma chere 
Cousine."^ For Canada she entertained the senti- 
ments of Yoltaire, which were equivalent to a prac- 
tical abandonment of a colony which they were 
pleased to characterise as an ice-floe from the North- 
ern Pole, a country unworthy the sacrifices which 
France had already made for it. 

Canada at the time of the declaration of war was 
governed by Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vau- 
dreuil Cavagnal, a native of Canada and son to the 

^ Guizot's History of France, Vol. V., p. 197. 

5 



56 TJie Fall of New France. 

former Groveruor Phillippe de Eigand, Marquis de 

Vaudreuil, 1703-25. Doubly a Canadian, having 

married into the Deschambault [an old-established 

Canadian] family, he was warmly welcomed by the 

people. He had also been Lieutenant-G-overnor of 

Three Rivers in 1733. Having been for some years 

past Grovernor of Louisiana, with which colony 

intimate relations with Canada always existed 

its chief settlers having immigrated therefrom, 

enhanced by the consanguinity of a large 

number of the people of both countries, his 

fame, sociability and poi)ular administration had 

preceded him. Imitating the Court of France, with 

whose ways he was perfectly familiar, he was not 

outdone in splendor, luxury, military display and 

expenses of every kind. G-ayarre, in his History of 

Louisiana, YoL H., p. 66, says : " The administration 

" of the Marquis of Vaudreuil was long and fondly 

" remembered as an epoch of unusual brilliancy. 

" Remarkable for his personal grace and comeliness, 

" for the dignity of his bearing and the fascination 

" of his address, he was fond of pomp, show and 

" pleasure ; surrounded by a host of brilliant officers, 

" of whom he was the idol, he loved to keep up a 



The Fall of New France. 6? 

" miniature court, in distant imitation of that of 
" Versailles ; and long after he had departed, old 
" people were fond of talking of the exquisitely 
" refined manners, the magnificent balls, the splen- 
" didly uniformed troops, the high-born young offi- 
" cers, and many other unparalleled things they had 
" seen in the days of the great Marquis." 

Unfortunately, this was blurred by accusations of 
malfeasance, which, however, did not affect his 
popularity with the people. 

The Intendant General of Canada, or chief civil 
officer, was the notorious Francis Bigot, of infamous 
memory, who had distinguished himself in his dis- 
honorable conduct while acting as Intendant at 
Louisiana, prior to 1*748 when he was transferred to 
Canada. He had great family influence and the 
patronage of Madame de Pompadour. 

The command of the army had been invested 
in Baron Dieskau, but after his capture Louis 
Joseph de Saint Yerau, Marquis de Montcalm, 
Mestre de Camp, a title to-day known as a Cavalry 
Colonel, was appointed Commander-in-Chief. Upon 
his arrival, Canada had an available force of 4200 
regulars, augmented later on by 1000 recruits, and 



68 The Fall of New France. 

15,500 militiamen. The total population could not 
have been less than 100,000 souls, including the 
army and Indians. ' The New England Colonies had 
a population of 1,200,000, with an available military 
force of 60,000 men, but these, like the Canadians, 
were not to any extent enrolled or drilled. The res- 
pective populations of France and England at this 
time were twenty-four millions against twelve — a 
relative proportion as existed ever since the colonies 
were founded, demonstrating a character in the 
English for colonizing truly remarkable, born of that 
love for freedom and adventure the Saxon has 
always inherited and displayed. 

Of the 15,500 Canadian militiamen, not more than 
5000 were enrolled and most of these were required 
for garrisoning the three cities and other forts during 
the absence of the regulars. In one respect, compara- 
tively speaking, Canada possessed a more serviceable 
militia force than the Americans, inasmuch as almost 



^ Rameau, La Fmnce aux Colonies, Vol. II., p. 82, puts the popula- 
tion at about 71,000 souls, including 5000 voyageurs and hunters, 4200 
regulars, and 15,500 militia, but omits all mention of the domicil- 
iated Indians, fully 15,000 strong ! Being converted and civilized, 
they were as useful militiamen and guides as the habitants. Dus- 
sieux, in Le Canada, p. 213, says 82,000 souls. 



The Fall of New France. 6q 

every man was by nature a sharp-shooter, by occu- 
pation a hunter, after he was old enough to handle a 
gun, while the land was tilled and the hand of the 
plow was served by the Habitant Dame, the equal of 
her husband in husbandry, thus leaving him to the 
service of his country and martial fame. 

Montcalm, upon his arrival, had not a larger avail- 
able force than 8000 men in all. ^ Other authorities 
place the regulars at 5300, with 2000 militiamen 
enrolled. ^ His staff consisted of the Chevalier de 
Levis (Brigadier), afterwards Field Marshal the 
Duke of Levis (a member of a very ancient Langue- 
doc family enjoying great influence in France), who 
was second in command ; De Bourlamaque (Colonel 
of Infantry) third in command, with De Bougainville 
(Captain of Dragoons) as Aide-de-Camp, 

The Indian allies, undomiciliated and savage, 
were not at any time to be depended upon — success 
would bring a large number to the front, but dis- 
aster would call as quick a desertion. Tliey were 
horn politicians and diplomats. Excellent skirmishers, 
they were useful as auxiliaries, but never could be 
depended upon for regular support. For reasons 

1 Muntcalm en Canada, Martin, p. 18. 
^De Bonnechose, Montcalm, p. 31. 



70 The Fall of New France. 

before stated, the Canadians had more material 
assistance from them throughout the campaign than 
the English. At one time they numbered as many 
as 3000 in their support, but, as a rule, they seldom 
assisted in bodies of oyer 500 to 600 strong. 

Gov. Wm. Shirley, who was one of the Commission- 
ers engaged at Paris in the vain effort to settle what 
was meant by the cession of Acadia to England by 
the Treaty of Utrecht and that of Aix-la-Chapelle, had 
been recalled and re-assumed the government of Mas- 
sachusetts. Being the senior officer, upon the death 
of Braddock he became Commander-in-Chief of the 
Forces, a position for which he was not adapted by 
military knowledge. Making plots and ]3laus on 
paper are vastly different to carrying them out in the 
field ; hence, his military schemes for the season of 
1*756 were grand in conception and theory, but dis- 
astrous failures in practice. Ten thousand men were 
to advance against Crown Point — 6000 for service on 
Lake Ontario, 3000 for an attack on Fort Duquesne 
and 2000 to advance up the River Kennebec, destroy 
the settlement adjoining the Chaudiere and descend- 
ing the mouth of that river within three miles of 
Quebec, keep all that part of Canada in alarm.^ 

^Minot's History of Massachusetts, Vol. I., p. 264. 



The Fall of New France. "JX 

"While each of these armies was being put iuto 
motion, the season had become too far advanced for 
action at any one point. Moreover, the British Gov- 
ernment, dissatisfied w^ith a Provincial officer being 
at the head of its army in America, determined upon 
sending out G-eneral Lord Loudoun. While Shirley 
was preparing, Montcalm advanced against the three 
forts at Oswego, the terror of the French in the Iro- 
quois country and which had been their desire to 
destroy for many years back ; they likewise com- 
manded the entrance to Lake Ontario. The English 
had a garrison of 1800 men in these divided between 
Fort Ontario under command of Colonel Littlehales, 
Fort Oswego (the old fort) under Colonel Mercer, and 
Fort G-eorge, or Rascal, under Colonel Schuyler, about 
a mile distant from each other. Montcalm, with his 
army of 2000 regulars and 2500 militia and Indians, 
crossed the lake from Fort Fronteuac on the 12th of 
August and without much opposition captured the 
two former forts, the " chamade" being beat for want 
of proper generalship. Fort George also succumbed. 
The garrison under Colonel Littlehales surrendered 
and were immediately transported as prisoners to 
Montreal ; the commander, Colonel Mercer, having 



72 The Fall of New France. 

fallen at the outset. The naval force of eight ves- 
sels, monnting sixty-eight guns, under Commodore 
Bradley, were at the mouth of the river, but were of 
very little service in defence of the forts. They 
were included in the capitulation. 

As an evidence of the intrepidity displayed 
throughout this war, I would specially mention 
that a body of 2500 Canadians and Indians swam 
across the river, under a heavy fire, to prevent com- 
munication being had by land with Colonel Schuyler 
at Fort G-eorge — an act of daring and valor nothing 
but a native-born patriotism could engender. 

No sooner was Montcalm in possession of the 
three forts at Oswego than, with admirable policy, 
and an excellent speech upon English aggressiveness 
and duplicity in dealing with the Indians, he de- 
molished them in presence of his Indians allies, in 
whose country they had been erected, and whose 
suspicions they had excited. ^ Before leaving the 
ground of his victory, — this being his first conquest 
— he had a column erected, upon which he placed 

^ Holmes' American Annals, 1813, Vol. II., p. 127. Minot and 
Mant6, with WiUia7mon's Life and Poiichofs Memoirs, all contempo- 
rary authors (Williamson and Pouchot being present at the engage- 
ment), agree with the above version. 



The Fall of New France. J'l 

the Shield of France, with the inscription, 

" Manibus dat6 lilia plenis," 

a legend which was not destined to be fulfilled.^ 

Shirley was much blamed for this defeat and the 
failure of his projects, and lost both his government 
and command, being succeeded by John Campbell, 
fourth Earl of Loudoun, Baron Mauchlaw, one of the 
sixteen Peers of Scotland, with G-eneral Abercromby 
as second in command — both notorious for previous 
incompetency, — the former the hero of the retreat 
from Inverness in 1V45. They were sent out with 
considerable reinforcements, and had transferred to 
them by Shirley 16,000 men in the field, of whom 
6000 were regulars, but with that masterly inactiv- 
ity and indecision for which Loudoun was most 
renowned, no further movement was made this year. 
The year 1*75Y was not distinguished by any mili- 
tary movements of much moment. It was intended 
to attack Louisbourg, Cape Breton, and with this 

1 An enormous amount of stores fell into the hands of the 
French, viz., 1.S5 pieces of artillery, 1070 musquets, 23,000 pounds 
gunpowder, 8000 pounds musquet balls, 2950 cannon balls, 450 
bombs, 1476 grenades, twelve months provisions for 4000 men, and 
18,954 livres in money. — Williamsons Life, Lond-, 1759, p. 87. 



7 A The Fall of New Fj^ance, 

object Lord Loudouu reached Halifax on the 11th 
of July with 6000 regulars and was met with 
fresh arrivals from England of 5000 British troops 
under Greorge Yiscount Howe, a squadron of sixteen 
ships of the line and eight frigates, under Admi- 
ral Holbourn. ^ After the force was collected at 
Halifax, information was received that a French fleet 
had lately sailed from Brest for Louisbourg, that 
Louisbourg was garrisoned by 3000 regulars, exclu- 
sive of militia, and that it was also defended by 
eighteen line of battle ships and six frigates, which 
were moored in the harbor. Loudoun's apologists 
state ; there being no hope of success against so for- 
midable a force, the enterprise was deferred to the 
next year ; the Greneral and Admiral, on the last of 
August, proceeded to New York, and the Provincials 
were dismissed ! ! 

The renown for bravery with which British 
generals and admirals have been always distin- 
guished, was here open to the rare exception of 
the white feather, and in this war we have to 
lament the actions of Admiral Byng at Minorca, for 
which he suffered death and that of Lord Loudoun 

^Pricis of the Wars, p. 54; Holmes' American Annals, p. 188. 



The Fall of New Prance. 7S 

in the present instance, for which he was justly dis- 
graced and recalled by the new Prime Minister and 
Secretary of State, William Pitt, leaving the com- 
mand with Greneral Abercromby. Not only his 
military skill, but his courage and integrity were 
questioned/ Admiral Holbourn partially redeemed 
himself by pushing out, with a part only of his 
squadron, to entice Admiral La Mothe to give him 
battle in front of Louisbourg, but to this challenge 
the French Admiral did not deem fit to comply. 

Montcalm, finding himself free from attack, pene- 
trated with his army of 7606 men" to Fort "William 
Henry, at the head of Lake George . Included were 
2000 Indians. The fort was garrisoned by 2264 regu- 
lars under Colonel Munroe, of the 35th Regiment, and 
in the neighborhood there was an additional force of 
4600 men under Greneral Webb. On the 3rd August 
the fort was invested and after a summons to surren- 
der was rejected, the attack was begun and contin- 
ued with undiminished fervor until the 9th at noon, 
when a capitulation was signed. Greneral Webb did 
not join Munroe, as he was instructed to do by Aber- 

1 Murdock's History of Nova Scotia, Vol. II., p. 315. 
^ De Montcalm, Martin, pp. 64-97. 



76 



The Fall of New France. 



cromby's plans, some cowardice being attributed to 
him by contemporary writers. 

An incident of the war, which has given rise to a 
great deal of controversy and ill-feeling up to the 
present moment, was the so-called massacre at Fort 
"William Henry, the outcome of the numerous horde 
of savages the French had as allies in the engage- 
ment. 

The natives of America, like their prototype the 
Arab of the Desert, have always been noted for their 
love of spoliation ; it is, therefore, not surprising that 
their opportunity for looting having been prevented 
by the surrender, they took the law into their own 
hands and committed the depredations of which 
De Montcalm and his oihcers have been unjustly 
accused. 

On the morning following the surrender, the 
garrison was to march out under a proper escort to 
protect them from injury at the hands of the Indians. 
The evacuation had barely commenced, when a repe- 
tition of the looting of the day previous, which 
ensued immediately after the capitulation had been 
signed, was attempted. An effort being made by the 
escort to stop it, some drunken Indians attacked the 



The Fall of New France. 77 

defile, which resulted in the murdering and scalping 
some sixty or seventy of the prisoners ; maltreating 
and robbing a large number of others. 

Upon a careful investigation of the contemporary 
authorities, no blame whatever can be attached to the 
good fame of the brave and humane Montcalm or De 
Levis. True it is, the articles of capitulation guar- 
anteed a sufficient escort to protect the surrendered 
garrison from the fury of the Indians and while the 
sufficiency of it may be open to question, it cannot 
be denied that a guard of 500, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, would have sufficed. It was clearly the 
duty of the English commander to have refused to 
open the gates unless he was satisfied ample protec- 
tion was accorded. The escort, no doubt, had 
become panic-stricken at the ferocity of the attack, 
and the officer in charge, St. Luc de la Corne, a 
Canadian, whether from incompetence or national 
prejudice, did not enforce in time the authority he 
should have exercised ; but it must also be remem- 
bered that 2000 Indians under the influence of 
liquor are not to be governed by friend or foe, and 
while possibly some blame may be attached to the 
officers in charge of the escort, none whatever can be 



78 



The Fall of New France. 



to Greneral Montcalm or De Levis, who were at a con- 
siderable distance from the scene of the revolt. They 
hastened back and distinguished themselves here, 
as they did throughout the war — notably at Oswego, 
where the Indians were with the utmost difficulty 
restrained by Montcalm, personally, from making a 
similar attack under very similar circumstances — as 
military officers, without a peer in any army for courage, 
genius, heroism and humanity wherever they could be 
exercised. " Kill me, but spare those under my pro- 
tection," was the thrilling cry of Montcalm, heard 
above the din of the savage war-whoop ; while, 
sword in hand, he penetrated the savage horde and 
protected a band of women and children from 
massacre.^ 

Fort George, or William Henry, as it was indiffer- 
ently called, like its compeer Fort Oswego, was 

^The event was greatly magnified by contemporary writers, but 
the facts seem to me to be in a mean between the outrageous state- 
ments of Captain Carver and the Jesuit Roubaud, as evidenced by 
the moderate statements of chroniclers of the time, such as Pouchot 
in his Memoir!^ (p. 105, Vol. I., original edition); Mant4, History of 
the late War, 1772 (p. 95) ; Hutchinson's His^tory of Massachusetts Bay, 
Vol. III., Lond., 1828, p. 60: ^^ The prisoners acknowledged that the 
" French strove to restrain the Indians, but ivere overpowered."— Mmot's 
History of Massachusetts Bay, and Bancroft, Vol. II. 



The Fall of New France. 70 

razed to the ground and the array retreated into 
their winter quarters at Montreal. 

The termination of the year left the French mas- 
ters of Lakes Champlain and G-eorge, together with 
the chain of great lakes connecting the St. Law- 
rence with the Mississippi ; also the undisturbed 
possession of all the country in dispute west of the 
Alleghany Mountains. 

The destruction of the forts at Oswego and Wil- 
liam Henry left an impression of superiority of the 
French nation on the minds of the Indians, which 
took years to eradicate. In fact, notwithstanding 
the ultimate victory of the English, Poutiac's war, 
which ensued after the Peace of 1Y63, may be clearly 
traceable to these victories. ' Circumstances had 
hitherto forced on the French the offensive, but only 
with the object of protecting their own frontiers. 
All this was now to change, and acting entirely on 
the defensive, they were to lose with greater rapid- 
ity, in the space of two short seasons, all that they 
had so easily acquired before by genius, military skill 
and prowess. 

With a more vigorous hand Pitt determined 

1 See PouchoCs Memoirs, Yverdon, orig. edit., Vol. I., p. 80. 



8o The Fall of New France. 

to act. " My Lord, I am sure I can save this 
country, and no one else can,'' was the egotistic, 
bold, yet true assertion of William Pitt in his 
opening speech in the House of Commons upon 
announcing his method of conducting the war in the 
future/ True to his word, his method was a radi- 
cal change — he wished to aggrandize Britain in gen- 
eral, but thought not of obliging or benefiting indi- 
viduals ; the day of the men characterized so aptly 
by the King as " Apres diner — la moutarde,'' people such 
as the Mordaunts, Conways, Cornwallises, Abercrom- 
bies, Byngs and Loudouns, was over ; none but sol- 
diers of recognized ability and bravery were to con- 
trol the forces of England. His first selection could 
not have been more sapient. He returned to the 
St, Lawrence, Admiral Boscawen accompanied by 
G-enerals Amherst and Wolfe, three names which 
must always take precedence in the rank of Eng- 
land's greatest heroes, as they must and will live 
for ever in the annals of Canadian history as having 
accomplished its greatest political regeneration. 

On the 2nd June 1758, there anchored in the 
Bay of G-abarus, about one mile and a half to the 

^ Walpole's Memoirs of George II, Vol. II., p. 271, 



The Fall of New France. 8l 

westward of Louisbourg, 15t vessels ; but of these 
twenty-three only were ships of the line, with eigh- 
teen frigates. The force consisted of 12,260 men, under 
the control of the three officers before mentioned. 

Louisbourg, the pride of France in North America, 
was garrisoned by 3080 regular troops, 300 militia 
formed of the inhabitants and *750 Canadians and 
Indians,^ under the command of the Chevalier 
Drucourt, and I may add, without doing him any 
injustice, his brave wife, who daily inspirited the 
forces to increased exertions. The marine service 
consisted of five ships of the line and seven frigates 
with 3,000 men, mounting 544 guns. The fortifica- 
tions had cost France over thirty million francs to 
build, and were deemed almost impregnable. Over 
twenty-five years constant labor had been expended 
on them, and during this period they had been but 
once assailed, when it took over six weeks constant 
attack from an overwhelming force, naval and mili- 
tary, before the garrison surrendered and then only, 
it is alleged, from mutiny within it. The little 
damage done had been repaired when they again 

1 Dussieux (Le Canada, p. 190) says 7000 soldiers in all ; but his 
distribution of them would imply a force of over 10,000 men, 
including Marines. 

6 



82 The Fall of New France. 

reverted to France at the Peace of 1^48, and were 
now in first class condition. 

The fortifications formed a circuit of nearly two 
miles, with four bastions, a citadel, and batteries at 
every available point, mounting 221 cannon and 
eighteen mortars. The coast line, a craggy shore, 
with a restless surge beating against steep, perpen- 
dicular hills and barbed rocks, apparently as inac- 
cessible as the great engineering masterwork itself, 
was covered with earthworks and concealed batteries 
at every prominent position, while the harbor was 
. protected by three special batteries and two inner 
ones, all armed to the teeth, as uninviting a spot for 
an enemy to try to enter as it was possible for 
nature and man together to make. 

Such was the result of the reconnoitre exposed to 
the view of the three Greneral Ofiicers upon their ar- 
rival. Even the brave Wolfe hesitated to make the 
attempt to laud ; but, upon the advice of Boscawen, 
who, as Pitt said, " never turned his face from dan- 
ger, always being full of expedients and who knew 
not the meaning of the word ' failure,' " Wolfe was 
induced, after waiting six days for the wind to fall, 
to take to the boats and lead off in the effort. 



The Fall of New France. 83 

The unfriendly surf and the too warm reception 
accorded to him by those on the heights, tried his 
courage to the utmost, despairing of his chances of 
success while the high wind prevailed, he felt con- 
strained to beat a retreat ; but he had no sooner done 
so than, regretting the step, with characteristic valor, 
he turned it into an effectual ruse to cover a further 
attempt at a landing, a short distance off, which he 
saw a possibility of obtaining. Wading in surf to 
their waist, they were successful, to the surprise and 
dismay of the enemy, who were totally unprepared 
for the act of military daring and superhuman cour- 
age the attempt entailed. Surrounded by a hail-storm 
of bullets, the valorous Wolfe maintained his ground 
behind the protecting £egis of rocks until he was fol- 
lowed by the remainder of his army and then soon dis- 
lodged, at the point of the bayonet, the enemy before 
him ! This " battle of the surf" cost the British 111 
killed, wounded and missing, and about 100 boats 
with ordnance. The intrepidity of the attack which 
followed soon drove the French from each of their 
posts in succession ; abandoning their earthworks 
and hotly pursued by G-eneral Wolfe, they took 
shelter under and within the walls of Louisbourg. 



84 



The Fall of New France. 



The historian Entick says : " Such were the incre- 
" dible service and extraordinary achievements of a 
" day that mnst be ever glorious in the annals of this 
" nation, and convince posterity that no difficulties 
" nor dangers are sufficient to withstand the impetu- 
" osity of an English army under efficient leaders," 

Time and space will not admit recounting the 
many exploits and acts of heroism displayed before 
the walls of Louisbourg between the 2nd June and 
the 26th July, the day upon which the fortress sur- 
rendered to the British arms. To Chevalier Dru- 
court, without an adequate navy or army to effici- 
ently garrison so extended a line of fortifications, 
the contest was a somewhat unequal one, and to 
him is due the utmost praise for his persistent, 
energetic and heroic defence of France's Dunkirk in 
Canada. He surrendered but a ruined fortress and 
a desolate town, upon terms not so honorable as were 
usually accorded, but such only as could be consist- 
ently granted under the present intentions of the 
English Ministry to annihilate the French dominion 
in Canada ! Thus his army of 5637 regulars, officers, 
sailors and marines, were carried prisoners to Eng- 
land, while the inhabitants of the Island 4100, as 



The Fall of New France. 85 

well as those of Isle St. Jean (the present Prince 
Edward Island), included in the capitulation, were 
transported in English vessels to France. His loss 
was 1,500 lives ; that of the English 400.' 

The particulars of this victory were immediately 
carried to England by Captain Amherst, brother 
to the commander, who brought with him eleven 
stand of colours. No more welcome intelligence 
had entered England since the war began 
than that of the fall of Louisbourg. The 
colours were, by His Majesty's orders, carried in 
pompous parade, escorted by detachments of Horse 
and Foot G-uards amid kettle-drums and trumpets, 
from the Palace of Kensington to St. Paul's Cathe- 
dral, where they were deposited as trophies, under a 
discharge of cannon and other noisy expression of 
triumph and exultation. Indeed, the public rejoic- 
ings for the conquest of Louisbourg were diffused 

^The garrison and French forces, by the majority of writers, are 
put down at 2500 and yet at the surrender they all admit the cor- 
rectness of the above figures ! ! proving that the place was defended 
by 7137 military and naval men in all. Garneau, in his usual style 
of exaggeration of figures and facts wherever the French interests 
are concerned, an unpardonable blemiish on his otherwise acceptable 
HiMory of Canada, states (Vol. III., edit. 1848, p. 110) that the Eng- 
lish force consisted of 30,000 men, while the French had only 2100 
regulars, 600 militia, while he, contradicting his own figures, admits 
at p. 118 that 5600 formed the garrison which surrendered. See 
also Ferland's fours d'Histoiredu Canada, p. 561. 



86 The Fall of New France. 

through every part of the British dominions and 
addresses of congratulation were presented to the 
King by a great number of flourishing towns and 
corporations. A day of public thanksgiving was 
appointed and services in praise of the event were 
held throughout the kingdom. 

In the New "World, the importance of this victory 
was felt to be such as tending to the eventual fall of 
New France, that the joy and delight of the English 
colonists knew no bounds ; finding vent largely in 
numberless thanksgiving services and prayer assem- 
Tilies, the records of which have come down to us in 
innumerable editions of their most popular preach- 
ers' addresses, which were ordered to be printed at 
the public expense. 

The other military operations in 1758 were unim- 
portant in results. It was intended to dislodge the 
French from Ticonderoga and Crown Point by an 
army 16,000 strong (7000 of whom were regulars), 
under Major-G-enerals James Abercromby and Lord 
Howe, and to send a fresh expedition against Fort 
Duquesne, the scene of the unfortunate exploit of 
General Braddock. For the latter, some 7000 men 
were placed under General Forbes. 



The Fall of New France. 87 

The former was not a success. Embarking on 
the 5th July, in 1035 boats/ at the spot where the 
ill-fated Fort William Henry stood the year pre- 
vious, Abercromby disembarked the next morning 
about two miles from Fort Ticonderoga, or Carillon 
(as the French called it), and which he determined 
to carry by assaalt. Here they were met by Mont- 
calm with 2970 regulars, 101 Indians and 487 mili- 
tia. He was subsequently joined by De Levis with 
400 regulars, 1600 Canadians and Indians." From the 
6th July in the morning until the 9th, Abercromby 
invested this fort, but strange to say his shot fell short 
of its mark, his attacks futile and notwithstanding 
his numerical superiority, he was defeated in several 
engagements his brave opponents met him with. 
Carillon must have had indeed a Divine protection, 
to have saved it and its garrison from instant des- 
truction from such an overwhelming force. Inex- 
plicable as it may seem, Abercromby retreated in a 
complete rout and most disorderly state, so much so, 

1 What a regatta for Lake George and beautiful panoramic view 
this must have been, with the handsome uniforms of the Royal 
Artillery, the 27th, 42nd Highlanders, 44th, 4Uth, 55th, 1st and 2nd 
Battalions of Royal Americans (the 60th), commingled with 9000 
Provincial troops. 

■^ Dussieux {Le Canada, p. 331, et seq.) gives a force of 5300. 



88 The Fall of New France. 

that had he been followed by Montcalm, he wonld 
not have escaped without a tremendous loss of life. 
That Montcalm did not take advantage of his posi- 
tion, is a further evidence of his humanitarian prin- 
ciples of warfare. The English loss was 194Y officers 
and men killed and wounded, including Lord Howe, 
who fell on the first day, an officer universally ad- 
mired and lamented, and who had already become 
beloved by his army for his valour and respected for 
his military knowledge; the French loss was 494 
men killed, with about 1100 wounded. The 
Canadian militia loss was, in addition, eighty-seven 
killed and 240 wounded. Fortunately, Abercromby 
was immediately recalled, as it was to his want of 
ability and capacity the English rightly attributed 
this striking defeat. He was fifty-two years of 
age, of heavy build and lethargic, and prematurely 
old in appearance. By temperament he was wholly 
unfit for the great heat incurred in the bush in the 
month of July ; enervated thereby, it is no wonder 
failure was a result. He had already expressed 
himself unfit for American service, and eagerly 
looked for his recall. 

To this day, the French Canadians are fully justi- 



The Fall of New France. 89 

fied in commemorating so providential and un- 
exampled a victory as that of Carillon, by 
carrying aloft the " Drapeau Blanc," the charmed 
flag which shot and shell could not penetrate, 
conserved religiously in the National Sanctuary 
at Quebec/ 

Col. Bradstreet, v^ith 3000 men, a contingent 
from Abercromby's defeated army, partially re- 
deemed themselves by a forced march upon Fort 
Frontenac, which, being garrisoned by only 150 
men, capitulated after making but a slight resistance. 
A large part of the sx)oils obtained at Oswego were 
here recaptured. 

Forbes, upon reaching Fort Duquesne, on the 24th 
November, obtained an easy conquest — the garrison 
of 500 men, under De Ligneris, recognizing the 
impossibility of defence against so large an army, 
satisfied themselves by repeating against Bouquet, 
in command of a vanguard of Forbes' army, the 

^ For this victor}^, Montcalm was made Lien tenant- General and 
decorated with the Grand Cross of St. Louis ; De L6vis, Marechal 
de Camp, and all other officers promoted a grade. 

A very beautiful poem has been produced on this theme, worthy 
of as everlasting fame as the victory itself, from the pen of Joseph 
Octave Cr^mazie, a Canadian, entitled " Le Drapeau de Carillon." 



00 The Fall of New France. 

successful ambuscade of De Beaujeu against Brad- 
dock and then burned and vacated the Fort as 
Forbes approached. From these smouldering" ashes 
and settlers from Forbes' army arose, phcenix-like, 
an embryo city which they named Pittsburg, after 
the great Minister, — a sole monument of the Fall 
of New France, which was created by it and has 
come down unchanged in name in direct memento of 
the memorable events which contributed so much 
to the welfare of this country and the French inha- 
bitants of the Province. Forbes, a much esteemed 
Spotch Officer, fell a victim to this fatiguing 
expedition, and lived but to reach his home at Phila- 
delphia in the following January. 

The campaigns of 1Y58 closed the career of 
France on the St. Lawrence, in the valley of the 
Ohio and northern Mississippi. The falling of Fort 
Frontenac dealt it a death-blow on the Lakes, which 
rendered it open to easy conquest in the following 
season. The outlook was dark indeed, and raised 
the first cry from the Colony to its Mother Country 
for peace, or an adequate supply of forces to cope 
with England, before all were sacrificed and lost. A 
vain cry to the heedless, degenerate King who occu- 



The Fall of Nezv France. 01 

pied the throne of France under the selfish aphorism^ 
up to which he was living, " Aprh moi — le delugey^ 

The census of February 1Y59 gave a total popula- 
tion in Canada of 82,000 souls, with 20,000 men able 
to carry arms. ^ The Quebec forces in April are stated 
to be 3686 regulars, 1500 colonial troops, with 3500 mi- 
litia, and a body of hunters, trappers, Indians, etc., of 
no fixed residence, amounting to 11, 900. men in all.^ 

The dissensions in the Colony at this time were 
most painful, the civil and military authorities 
being as much at open warfare as the troops 
of the two different nations. The state of society 
at the capital and other centres was depraved 
in the extreme. Licentiousness, gambling, pecu- 
lation and other vices were the rule and indeed 

^ The very walls of Versailles, the residence of the King, were 
placarded with doggerels, among which were many of a most 
treasonable character. All more or less pointed to the feminine 
influence over the King, in such couplets as these: — 

" France, le sexe femelle 



" Bateaux plats a vendre.t 
Soldats a louer, 
Mmistres a pendre, 
G^nerau.x a louer." 



Fit toujours ton destin. 
Ton bonheur vint d'une Pucelle, 
Ton inalheur vient d'une catin." 



t Referring to the numerous boats built for the invusion of Kngland, but never used. This 
scheme originated with Madame de Pompadour Walpole's Memoirs of George II, Vol. II. 

^ Rameau, La France aux Colonies, p. 86 and notes. This would 
not include the regular army and domiciliated Indians, about 
25,000 in number- See note, p. 68, on the same subject. 

^ De Montcalm en Canada, i). 172. These figures are clearly an 
undei'estimate. 



02 The Fall of New France. 

fashion. The Iiitendant Bigot, imitating his Royal 
master, kept open court in the valley of the St. 
Charles, and not to be outdone by Yersailles, had his 
Pompadour in the person of Madame Pean, whose 
husband (as he had not the power to elevate to the 
ranks of the aristocracy) he rewarded by constituting 
a sharer in his plunder of the public chest. So openly 
was this perpetrated that the people nick-named their 
establishments, both at Quebec and Montreal, "Les 
Friponnesy ' The Grovernor-G-eneral and La Marquise 
were participants in many of these innocent amuse- 
ments, as they were then regarded ; and both had 
become most unpopular, being universally detested 
by the people for pride, avarice and cruelty.^ 

Their conduct in Canada gives color to the 
public accusations laid against them by the 
Intendant, Michel de la Eouvilliere, of Louisiana in 
1Y51. In his official statements and declarations to 
the Home Grovernment, he stated : " There is no 
" question but that the G-overnor is interested, for 
" one-third, in the profits made at the post of Tom- 
" becbee, where De G-rand Pre commands, and that 

1 " The Cheats." 

'^ Mayhevfs Sermon on the Reduction of Canada. Boston, 1760, p. 40. 



The Fall of New France. Q3 

he has the same interest in all the other posts, 
nobody doubts it here. The commanders at the 
posts are all Canadians, who are his creatures, or 
who are kinsmen or relations of his own or his 
wife. Mr. de Pontalba, the only one who does not 
belong- to this gang, holds the Grovernment of 
Pointe-Coupee, solely because he shares his profits 
with the G-overnor's lady. I have it from his own 
mouth. Such are the causes which increase the 
expenses beyond the Intendant's control. There 
is no discipline ; the most indulgent toleration is 
granted to the soldiers, provided they drink their 
money at the licensed canteen. It is Mr. de Belle- 
isle, the Aid-major, who has the lease and adminis- 
tration of the liquor shop, and who gives for it a 
certain sum to the Major — others say to the Grover- 
nor's lady ! What is positive is, that Mr. de Vau- 
dreuil has drawn upon the treasury for ten thous- 
and livres of his salary as Grovernor, w^hicli he has 
given to Mr. de Belleisle, and it is with these funds 
that the supplies of the liquor shop have been 
bought. Moreover, Madame de Vaudreuil is capa- 
ble of carrying on a still baser kind of trade. She 
deals here with every body, and she forces mer- 



Q4 The Fall of New France. 

" chants and other individuals to take charge of her 
" merchandise, and to sell it at the price which she 
" fixes. She keeps in her own house every sort of 
" drugs, which are sold by her steward, and in his 
" absence she does not scruple to descend herself to 
" the occupation of measurement, and to betake her- 
" self to the ell. The husband is not ignorant of 
" this. He draws from it a handsome revenue, to 
" obtain which is his sole wish and aim. The first 
" use which has been made of your Excellency's 
" order to put a cadet in each company, was to 
" bestow these favors on new-born children. There 
" are some, between fifteen months and six years 
" old, who come in for the distribution of provi- 
" sions." ' 

Certain it is, that in the trial which ensued in 1Y63 
upon the return of the Governor to France, while he 
was acquitted and released from the Bastile, he ivas 
denuded of his fortune, and died broken-hearted the 
ensuing year. 

The Colony must have been throughout, in a 
truly deplorable moral condition, for there prevailed 
the most shameful venality, the stream of corrup- 

^ History of Louisiana, C. Gayarre, pp. 58-61, Vol. I. 



The Fall of New France. 95 

tion originated in and ran down from the upper 
regions of society. But there were exceptions! 
Montcahn and his colleagues, De Levis and De Bou- 
gainville, openly refused to be participants or coun- 
tenance these shameless orgies. They thus incurred 
the personal dislike of the libertinous civil court and 
of its chiefs, the Grovernor and Intendant. Matters 
had come to such an open rupture that Montcalm 
begged his recall, while De Yaudreuil censured his 
conduct in his official despatches and plainly inti- 
mated that he could not get along with him as a 
military adviser. The Court of France, no doubt 
with the despatches of 1751 from Louisiana fresh in 
its mind, placed but little reliance on the Gover- 
nor's complaints and commanded that Montcalm 
should remain at his post, the Governor being told 
that in all military matters he was subservient to 
the Lieuteuant-General of the Army, to which grade 
Montcalm had been promoted. 

Accepting this command as a favorable augury of 
support, Montcalm thought possibly, a personal 
appeal would now be more efficacious than letters, 
and thereupon sent De Bougainville as a special 
emissary to the Court, to lay before them the abso- 



96 



The Fall of New France. 



lute necessity for reinforcements being sent at once, 
as well as provision and ammunition ; otherwise, the 
Colony must succumb to superior numbers. This 
appeal was very coldly received, in the face of disas- 
ters France had met with throughout the world. 
Senegal and Goree conquered in Africa, — Madras 
and Pondicherry in India, — Martinique and Gruada- 
loupe in the "West Indies, while the Army of West- 
phalia triumphed at Madden. Everywhere, save 
in Canada, her armies were defeated. Berryer, the 
Colonial Minister, replied : " Monsieur, quand le 
" feu est a la maison on ne s'occupe pas des ecuries. 
" On ne dira pas du moins, que vous parlez comme 
" un cheval," repariit hardiment de Bougainville.' 
The result of his mission was to obtain 326 recruits ! 
and seventeen ships loaded with ammunition and pro- 
visions, and which arrived in the harbor of Quebec 
on the 10th May ! He returned charmed with the 
graces of Madame de Pompadour, who promoted him 
to the grade of Colonel. It may readily be conceived 
the distress of Montcalm upon finding the result of 
this mission, upon which he had built his hopes. 

^ Translation. — " Sir. when the house is on iare, we do not bother 
" with the stables." To which Bougainville boldly replied : " We 
" could not say, at least, that you speak like a horse." 




0^1jotw,iun/i^ 




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/»/..„ /„rtA /m,, l-«,„t, .,. r .■' ,■>/•,,■„ H,;ir,/ ■■ r . tl.u,C'/U},r.l;ur„f:;„„f/.m./.S,?,v'/i. 



i.ii rriniirkililr niiir. in llir (UilfanJ »<r«Tof .SM.aurrnr 







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r, 






TJie Fall of New France. 07 

It was clear now. Canada was to be sacrificed for 
European prestige, — the very provisions sent were 
jnst one-fonrth of what was required to supply the 
Colony, as husbandry had been largely neglected of 
late seasons and but little was left in the granaries 
of the country. 

Nothing now remained but to make the best use 
possible of the small force of regulars, and exhort 
the people to the rescue. Loyalty, courage, patriot- 
ism and honour were not lacking, at least in the 
military commanders France was fortunate enough 
to have in Canada. 

Summoning the people, by patriotic and religious 
appeals, exhorting them to protect their wives, their 
children and their goods from the fury of the here- 
tics, a large concourse, about 25,000, was obtained 
within the gates of Quebec from youths of twelve to 
patriarchs of eighty. Every one, I have no doubt, 
even Amazons capable of pulling a trigger, was 
there in support of their dear city, their reli- 
gion, their homes and their flag, in answer to 
such entreating appeals from their beloved Bishop. 
T\'ith such a multitude of vvilliug workers, it 
is no louger a question of wonderment that within 
7 



98 



The Fall of New France. 



four weeks a chain of earthworks, intrenchments, 
redoubts aud batteries were erected along the 
heio^hts of the St. Charles and the St. Lawrence, 
from the walls of Quebec to the Falls of Montmo- 
renci, a distance of fully nine miles in a direct line, 
while additional works of the same nature were 
erected on the heights of Abraham, extending to 
Cap Rouge and along the base of the cliff. In fact, 
every available inch was fortified and protected by 
fully 17,000 zealous patriots who remained under 
arms to share the burdens of the campaign.^ 

Such was the vision of Wolfe upon arriving with 
his 8600 men all told, ^ inclusive of the marines 
(1300), in the twenty-two ships of war, five frigates, 
seventeen sloops and numberless transports, store- 
ships, traders and other attendants, which cast 
anchor at the Island of Orleans between the 26th 
June, 1759, and the 4th July, under the command 
of Admirals Saunders, Durell and Holmes. 

^ Memoir!^ S. de C, Ferland's Canada, p. 586. Knox's Campaigns : 
(A Priest says 22,000, Vol. 11, p. 165.) Cf. Vol. 1, pp. 309, 318, 326. 
Viger's MSS., p. 13 : Twelve hundred men in Quebec garrison ; over 
15,000 outside. 

^ Captain Knox, Campaigns in America, Vol. I., London, 1769, pp. 
256-340; General Srnythe's Fricis of the Wars in Canada, p. 71; 
Entick, Vol. IV., states 7000 as the full number of effective men. 




•**'«*tM-..-*U*»»<** ' 




A 



^^<I 



The Fall of New France. QQ 

This magnificent fleet of 1886 guns had been tele- 
graphed, in its advance stages from Cap des Eosiers, 
near Graspe, to Quebec by means of the ancient system 
of telegraphy, or signals, from ship-masts and balls 
erected on the highest points of land, for day nse, 
and by bonfires at night, ^ spreading consternation 
and the wildest alarm among the small force of 
regulars the brunt of the defence would depend 
upon, the entire navy in the country consisting of 
ten frigates and six armed merchant vessels, with 
about a dozen of unimportant trading ships, in all 
mounting about 300 guns, the senior officer of 
which was Captain Yauquelin, of the " Atalante." 
To add to the mortification of the French officers and 
army, the English fleet comprised many captures of 
their own vessels, making possible the well known 
tale that they were facilitated in navigating the St. 
Lawrence by displaying French colors on the French 
vessels, sent in advance of the others, by which they 
captured pilots, who were compelled at the peril of 
their lives to conduct the vessels on their route.^ 

^ A system in use in Canada until 1844, when it was superseded 
by electricity. 

^ Denis de Vitr6, a Cauadian who entered the marine of France 
and became Commandant of " La Renommee," thirty -nine guns 



100 The Fall of New France. 

Notably among these was the " Alcyde," bearing the 
same name and guns as when she succumbed to 
Boscawen's prowess at the first shot of the war by 
sea in 1755. 

Wolfe foresaw that he would be compelled to 
attack from the north side of the Montmorenci and 
dislodge the enemy foot by foot, with three rivers to 
ford — the Montmorenci, Beauport and St. Charles — 
an herculean task his small force could not well 
undertake. It had been contemplated that G-eneral 
Amherst, who was to advance by way of Lake 
Champlain with his invading force of 11,000 men, 
would find the road so open that he would join 
Wolfe in his attack upon Quebec about August. It 
was therefore determined to abide his coming, and, 
in the meanwhile, to harass the besieged as much as 
possible by shot and shell. 

Point Levis was occupied without opposition about 
the 21st of July, and a battery immediately erected, 

was captured in 1757, and has been credited by Garnean (p. 172, 
Edit. 1848, Vol. Ill) and other historians with having piloted the 
fleet up the St. Lawrence. In his MS. Memoirs, unpublished in 
my library, he successfully refutes all such accusations, though he 
was threatened with death, if he refused. He was saved through 
Tovvnshend's intercession, and states that the piloting was done by 
Canadian fishermen voluntarily. 



The Fall of New France. lOI 

from which the stormiug of Quebec, assisted by the 
navy, was kept up incessantly by night and day. 
Vessels were sent up and down the river, destroying 
the habitations of the people, reprisals for scalping 
and other acts of cruelty daily reported to the camp, 
but women and children were to be treated with 
humanity, otherwise death would be the punish- 
ment, was the G-eneral Order issued by Wolfe. ^ 
Foraging parties most successful in their expedi- 
tions, supplying the army, for a considerable time, 
with abundance of fresh meat, jDoultry and dairy 
prodiice ; belying the statements of Bigot and others, 
that the Colony was so reduced in supplies that the 
people were obliged to live on horse meat and salt 
cod, and that starvation stared them in the face. In 
one of these expeditions, a number of French Cana- 
dian ladies of the first families were brought captive 
to "Wolfe's headquarters ; where, amid tears and pro- 
testations, fearing ill-treatment, they were, much to 

1 Knox' a Campaigns, Vol. I., p. 313,— General Orders : " No 
" Churches, Houses, or buildings of any kind, are to be burned or 
" destroyed without orders ; the persons that remain in their habi- 
" tations, their women and chibh-en, are to be treated with human- 
" ity ; if any violence is ofiered to a woman, the offender shall be 
" punished with death." 



102 The Fall of New France. 

their surprise, most regally entertained, and returned 
under a flag of truce to the garrison of Quebec — an 
act of gallantry and favor which did much to cement 
the feeling of satisfaction and friendship, which 
ensued after the Conquest, between the Quebec 
people and "Wolfe's army. The time was thus 
employed awaiting Amherst. Numerous skirmishes 
had taken place between the outposts of both armies, 
but no move of any serious moment had been made 
by either army. 

"Wolfe determined, on the 31st July, to venture 
an attack upon the Beauport heights, the only 
important engagement which supervened between 
his arrival and that of the battle of the 13th Septem- 
ber. The design was to capture a redoubt command- 
in"- the Montmorenci and force the French forces to 
an open battle. Availing himself of a high tide and 
covering the landing by a furious cannonade from 
the three vessels iSaunders brought up the shallow 
channel, part of the troops landed and formed into 
squares, but a precipitous rush from the G-renadiers, 
without orders, and a tempest of rain coming down, 
caused him to beat a hasty retreat with a loss of 
443 killed and wounded ; the French loss being 200 




11 



The Fall of New France. IO3 

killed and wounded. In the G-eueral Orders of the 
day, he blames the G-renadiers for their precipitous 
and irregular attack and attributes to them the 
defeat which followed. He highly compliments 
Amherst's regiment, under the command of 
Major P. ^. Irving, and the Highlanders, " who, 
" by their soldier-like and cool manner they were 
" formed in, would undoubtedly have beat back 
" the whole Canadian Army if they had ventured 
"to attack them. ^ Be this as it may, sufficient 
was shown by the venture of the impregnability of 
the French lines on that side. 

Constitutionally weak and dispirited by ill 
success, disappointment and anxiety, the summer 
waning, Amherst not heard from, the brave 
General succumbed to a chronic malady of 
gravel and rheumatism, and was confined to 
a bed of serious illness. His brigadiers, Monck- 
ton, Townshend and Murray, took command, and in 

^ A view of this attack is given on the opposite page, the 
squares representing the regiments above complimented. The 
vessels in the offing are the " Centurion," sixty guns, on board of 
which Admiral Saunders hoisted his flag and did considerable ser- 
vice in covering the landing, and two armed transport boats, which 
stood a very heavy fire and did very effectual service, their 
commanders being complimented in the General Orders. 



lOzL The Fall of New Finance. 

a council they decided upon the attempt to land on 
the south-west side and invite an open battle. As 
soon as "Wolfe recovered he was informed of this 
resolution, and upon a personal reconnoitre approved 
of it. Removing his camp from L'Ange Grardien to 
Levis ; "Wolfe, receiving a message from Amherst, 
that he could not carry out the campaign agreed 
upon and that he would have to rely entirely upon 
his own resources, resolved upon an immediate 
attack, as the fall season was rapidly coming on and 
his fleet would have to retire. He looked with 
envy upon the Heights of Abraham as the spot 
most eligible, but how to get there was the question. 
Notwithstanding the vigilance maintained by a 
corps of light cavalry and infantry, 3,000 in number, 
under De Bougainville, set to watch that he did not 
obtain a landing ; by a successful ruse, on the night of 
the 12th September, Wolfe with Grenerals Monckton 
and Murray and 1500 picked men, landed between 1 
o'clock and 3.30 in the morning at L'Anse au Foulon 
(Fulling Mill Creek), in what is now known as Wolfe's 
Cove, the place shown to him by Maj. Stobo. ^ Pull- 

^ Major Robert Stobo, in his Memoirs, p. 70, takes credit for 
having suggested this landing place to Wolfe. Having been a 



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The Fall of New France. 10^ 

ing themselves up the steep precipice of 250 feet 
in height, tree by tree, man by man, while the 
path-way was invisible and unkuown to them they 
noiselessly reached the summit, protected by a 
redoubt and 100 men, where DeVergor, the Com- 
mander, inert and unsuspicious, was captured and 
his men surrendered after a few shots only from the 
sentinels had been fired ! ^ 

The heights were thus gained in a miraculous 
manner, in which the hand of Providence was clearly 
visible ; for within gunshot echo was De Bougainville, 
with the flower of the French light cavalry and infan- 
try, over 2000 strong, busily engaged watching the 
antics and diversions of Admiral Holmes ; a strategy 
successfully employed to cover the noiseless descent 
of "Wolfe with his advance guard of 1500 picked men, 
who were silently proceeding to the landing place 

hostage prisoner at Quebec for a considerable time, he had oppor- 
tunities of discovering its weak spots, and possiblj' his statement 
is true- 

^ It has been the custom to accuse DeVergor of treachery; but of 
this, his acquittal may be read in the words of the contemporary 
account written by the Superioress of the General Hospital, Que- 
bec, as follows (translated) : — " They landed on giving the pass- 
" word; the officer, De Vergor, detected the deceit, but too late. 
" He defended his post bravely with his small band, and was 
" wounded." 



I06 The Fall of New France. 

and evading the numerous guards and sentinels they 
met on the way by repeating in French, a chance 
forethought that they were bringing supplies to the 
city ! ! Within a radius of three miles, on either side 
of the landing, were numerous pickets and sentinels, 
below and above, yet none alive to the danger to their 
country their lack of alertness entailed. 

The vantage ground obtained, the balance of the 
force, under Townshend, from Point Levis joined. 
By day-break the army, 4828 strong, ^ was formed in 
battle array, with two pieces of cannon in the centre. 
The position was : On the first line — the 35th to the 
right, in a circular form, on the slope of the hill ; 58th 
to the left ; G-renadiers to the right, ^8th to the left ; 
28th to the right, 4Vth to the left ; 43rd in the cen- 
tre. Generals Wolfe, Monckton and Murray on the 
first line. ^ The second column was composed of the 
15th and two battalions of the 60th, under Towns- 
hend, with a reserve of the 48th under Colonel Bur- 
ton, the whole drawn up in four divisions, separate 

' Knox, Campaign in America, Lon., 1769, Vol. II., p. 74 ; Wright's 
Life of Wolfe, p. 580. 

- The actual force engaged, which turned the French column, 
and to whom the victory belongs, were those on the first line 
numbering 2865 men in all. 



The Fall of New France. 107 

and distinct from eacli other, and of about equal 
strength. 

Greneral Montcalm, apprised of the successful 
footing obtained by the English, at first could not 
credit it. He little suspected that the incessant can- 
nonade kept up by Admiral Saunders throughout 
the night on the Beauport Flats, and which had pre- 
vented him from retiring in the supposition that it 
was meant to cover an attempt at a landing of the 
forces at this point, in reality meant a feint to divert 
attention from the landing at "Wolfe's Cove ! ! Only 
too true ; there they were, already drawn up and 
coolly awaiting his attack. Without thought or 
reflection and overcome with surprise at the auda- 
city with which they had gained their posi- 
tion, he immediately summoned the entire garri- 
son to follow him to the attack. ' In this, however, 
he was thwarted by the enmity" of the Governor- 
General, De Yaudreuil, who remained in camp 
and retained around him a large body of the 

^ " S'il faut done combattre, je vais les ^eraser." " If we must 
" fight, I will crush them." — Walpole, Memoirs George IL, Lon., 1822, 
p. 386. 

^Some intimate poltroonery and incapacity. — Cf. S. de C, 
Mcmoires sur le Canada, pp. 126, 166. 



108 The Fall of New France. 

forces, ' while the Commandant of Quebec City, De 
Ramezay, would neither leave his fortress nor send 
cannon to Montcalm's assistance. 

Thus Montcalm had but a portion of the troops with 
him. Levis, his trusty right-hand friend and coadju- 
tor, had been sent by the Groveruor-Greneral with 1200 
men to the attack of Amherst after the victory of Beau- 
port on the 31st July, in which he had participated ; 
while Colonel De Bougainville with his force was 
watching Admiral Holmes' by-play, as before stated. 
A courier, sent by Montcalm, brought De Bougain- 
ville hastily to the scene of battle ; and there can be 
no doubt that he took an active part in the 
engagement. " The actual force Montcalm had with 
him in the battle is difficult to determine. Com- 
paring the authors and dissecting the conflicting 
statements made, I lean to the belisf that there 
were 1940 regulars, 5000 militia 500 Indians, and 

^ Memoirs of S. de C, ibid, p. 165. 

'■' Knox, who was present, distinctly asserts the fact, which 
Entick and others fully corroborate, Vol. 1V-, pp. 116-120; Mant§, 
p. 257 ; also Annual Register, 1759, p. 41. 

Without motive or design, the narrative of Captain Knox, writ- 
ten at the time from personal participation and knowledge, com- 
mands our serious acceptance of its truthfulness ; it bears its own 
imprint, and admits of no denial." 



The Fall of New France. lOQ 

De Bougainville's force, about 2000, making, in all, 
9,440 men. Captain Knox, the eminent and im- 
partial historian of this battle, who was present, 
states : — " The French had now (V a.m.) likewise 
" formed the line of battle a straight front, six 
" deep, and got some cannon to play on us with 
" round and canister shot ; but, what galled us 
" most was a body of Indians and Canadians 
" concealed in the corn opposite to the front of our 
" right wing, and in a coppice that stood opposite 
"to our centre, inclining towards our left; but 
" Colonel Hale, by Brigadier Moncton's orders, 
" advanced some platoons alternately from the 47th, 
" which, after a few rounds, obliged these skulkers 
" to retire ; we were now ordered to lie down, and 
" remained some time in this position. About 8 
" o'clock we had two pieces of short brass six- 
" pounders playing on the enemy, which threw 
" them into some confusion and obliged them to 
" alter their disposition, and Montcalm then formed 
" them into three large columns ; about 9, the two 
" armies moved a little nearer each other. The light 
" cavalry made a faint attempt upon our parties at 
" the battery of Sillery, but were soon beat otf, and 



no Tlie Fall of New France. 

" Monsieur de Bougainville, with his troops from Cap 
" Rouge, came down to attack the flank of our second iine^ 
" hoping to penetrate there ; but hij a masterly disposition of 
" Townshend, they were forced to desist, aud the Third 
" Battaliou of Royal Araericaus was then detached 
" to the first ground we had formed on after we 
" gained the heights, to preserve the comniumcation 
" with the beach and the boats. 

" About 10 o'clock, the French began to advance 
" briskly, in three columns, with loud shouts and 
" reversed arms, two of them inclining to the left of 
" our army, and the third towards our right, firing 
" obliquely at the two extremities of our line, from 
" the distance of 130 yards, until they came within 
" forty yards, which our troops withstood with the 
" greatest intrepidity and firmness, still reserving their 
'' fire, aud paying the strictest obedience to their ofB.- 
" cers ; this uncommon steadiness, together with the 
" havoc which the grape-shot from our field-pieces 
" made among them, threw them into some disorder, 
" and was most critically maintained by a well-timed, 
" regular and heavy discharge of our small arms, 
" such as they could no longer oppose ; thereupon 
" they gave way aud fled with precipitation, so that, 



The Fall of New France. Ill 

" by the time the smoke was vanished, our men 
" were again loaded, and profiting by the advantage 
" we had over them, pursued them almost to the 
" gates of the town, and the bridge over the 
" little river, redoubling our fire with great eager- 
" ness, making many ofiicers and men prisoners. 
" The weather cleared up, with a comfortably warm 
" sunshine ; the Highlanders chased them vigor- 
" ously towards Charles River, and the 58th to the 
" suburb close to John s Grate, until they were 
" checked by the cannon from the two hulks ; at the 
" same time a gun, which the town had brought to 
" bear upon us with grape-shot, galled the progress 
" of the regiments to the right, who were likewise 
" pursuing with equal ardor, while Colonel Huut- 
" "Walsh, by a very jiidicious movement, wheeled 
" the battalions of Bragg and Kennedy to the left, 
" and flanked the coppice, where a body of the 
" enemy made a stand, as if willing to renew the 
" action ; but a few platoons from these corps com- 
" pleted our victory. 

" Then it was Brigadier Townshend came up, 
" called off the pursuers, ordered the whole line to 
" dress and recover the former ground. 



112 The Fall of New France. 

" Our joy at this success is inexpressibly damped by 
the loss we sustained of one of the greatest heroes 
which this or any other age can boast of, G-eneral 
James Wolfe, who received his mortal wound, as 
he was exerting himself at the head of the Louis- 
bourg G-renadiers, and expired upon the field of 
battle, aged thirty-two, and Brigadier Monckton 
was unfortunately wounded upon the left of the 
43rd and right of the 47th, at much the same time ; 
whereby the command devolved on Brigadier 
Townshend, who, with Brigadier Murray, went to 
the head of every regiment and returned thanks 
for their extraordinary good behaviour, congratu- 
lating the officers on our success, While the two 
armies were engaged, there was an incessant firing 
between the town and our Levis batteries. By the 
time that our troops had taken a little refreshment, 
a quantity of intrenching tools were brought ashore, 
and the regiments were employed inredoubtingour 
ground and landing some cannon and ammunition. 
Montcalm entered the gates of Quebec mortally 
wounded, and expired, aged forty-eight, at 4 a m. 
of the 14th." 
Thus ended the battle of the 13th September by 



The Fall of New Frajtce. jjo 

which practically Quebec City and Fortifications 
fell forever from the military power of the French 
into that of the English, though it was not until the 
18th current that the gates of the city were open to 
receive them under articles of capitulation agreed to 
by Commandant de Ramezay. The conditions were 
favorable to the French, but what cared Townshend, 
situated as he was ! Any would have been accept- 
able to him, so long as he could gain possession of 
the Citadel and thus cripple, if not end, the military 
regime of the French in Canada. 

G-ranting the honors of war to troops to be trans- 
ported to France, some 700 in number (De Yaudreuil 
had removed the others), and the protection in per- 
son and property to the inhabitants, with the free 
exercise of their religion, were easy terms upon 
which to acquire the Capital of the French domi- 
nions in North America. Neither Admiral Saunders 
nor Brigadier-G-eneral Townshend felt encouraged 
by the position of matters to seek or ask better terms. 
At every moment they were expecting a renewal of 
the battle at the hands of De Levis, who had the 
reputation of being a daring officer and most efficient 
H*" military tactics and knowledge and who, they 



1 1 /I The Fall of New France. 

well knew, was at the head of a still much larger 
army than they commanded and had the advantage 
of position in being able to wedge them between the 
walls of Quebec on the one side and his own over- 
whelming force on the other. 

It was, therefore, with a great sigh of relief and 
irrepressible joy they accepted the terms proposed 
and placed the keys of the gates of Quebec in the 
hands of Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Murray, for 
entry of the army on the morning of the 18th Sep- 
tember. Knox states : " The keys of the ports were 
" given up this evening (the l*7th) to Greneral Towns- 
" hend, and safe-guards were sent into the town, pur- 
" suant to the Treaty ; in the morning the Louisbourg 
" Grenadiers marched in, preceded by a detachment 
" of artillery,^ and one gun, with the British colours 
" hoisted on its carriage ; the Union flag was dis- 
" played on the citadel. Captain Hugh Palliser, 

^ Commanded by Colonel Geor;^e Williamson, wlio afterwards 
became Lieutenant-General. Knox higlily compliments this otli- 
cer, a graduate of the academy at Woolwich, as being an expe- 
rienced master of his profession, especially shown by his service of 
the artillery during the siege. We have reason now to deplore 
his marksmen's accuracy as having been the means of destruction 
of so much that was of value and interest, historically aud archseo- 
logically. 




SIR HUGH PALLISER, Bart. 



Admiral and C.overnok Greenwich Hospital, 

Commandant H. M. S. Shrewsbury, 74 guns. 
At Quebec, 13th September, 1759. 



The Fall of New Fraiice. iK 

" with a large body of seamen and inferior officers, 
" at the same time took possession of the lower 
" town, and hoisted colours on the summit of the 
" declivity leading from the high to the low town, 
" in view of the bason and the north and south 
" countries below Quebec." Thus to Colonel Wil- 
liamson and Captain Palliser^ belong the honor of 
hoisting the first English colors, in token of victory 
and conquest, on the soil of the mainland of Canada 
since the days of Ivertk, 1629-32, to remain there an 
emblem of brotherly love between the Anglo-Saxon 
and Gallic races ; so long as the flag-staff of the 
majestic citadel-point of La Nouvelle France will 
waive them in recognition of the new-born Chris- 
tianity, that of mutual respect and esteem, the 
conquest of Canada brought to both races 

The loss on both sides was heavy for so short an 
engagement (began at 10 o'clock a.m. and ended at 
11), particularly so among the officers, proving the 
fearlessness of those in command, even to a degree 
of rashness. Both Commanders fell, while the 



^ The honors were evidently divided between the land and sea 
forces by this selection; the portrait of Captain Palliser being 
herein given. 



Il6 The Fall of New France. 

Brigadiers Senezergues, De Fontbrune and St. Ours 
on the French side were killed, and Monckton, on 
the English side, severely wonnded. The French 
admitted 640 killed and wounded, and 300 prison- 
ers, ^ while the English admit a loss of sixty-one 
killed, 598 wounded, and five missing. 

What became of De Vaudreuil, the Governor- 
General of the Colony, all this time ! From 5 in the 
morning until noon, the enemy were within sight, 
and a serious battle was being fought, which would 
decide the fate of the country, within two miles of 
his camp ! and yet not a move to the assistance of 
the brave General in action. Montcalm's early esti- 
mation of his character turned out now to be accur- 
ate. In one of his letters, he says " he is inactive and 
" incapable.'''' ^ History must assert that his apathy 
was largely occasioned by his personal antipathy to 
Montcalm, in addition to his military failings and 
fear that, by his assistance, victory might be his 
rival's ! No contemporary or reliable author men- 

^Knox states these fi-rures should be 1500 killed, wounded and 
prisoners, but I infer he includes the capitulated force of Quebec, 
some 700, so that there is not much discrepancy between the two 
statements. 

^ Murdock, History of Nova Scotia, p. 364. 



The Fall of New France. II/ 

tions any action taken by De Vaudreuil at this criti- 
cal moment, though he himself, in his despatches to 
the Grovernment, claims that he joined Montcalm 
before the battle was over, but too late, as Montcalm 
could not rally his men from retreat This state- 
ment is uncorroborated and bears its own refuta- 
tion. The fact is, De Vaudreuil would sacrifice his 
country to gratify his revenge ! His excuse that he 
was detaining his forces to prevent the landing of 
the British troops at the Lower Town, is frivolous 
and unworthy serious consideration. Immediately 
following the retreat, he desired to capitulate and 
hand over the country at once ; but was prevented by 
the loyalty ofFrench officers, who refused to comply/ 
Walpole, in his Memoirs, at p. 38Y, says : " Had Vau- 
" dreuil taken part and been captured, our men 
" were determined to scalp him, he having been the 
" chief and blackest author of the cruelties exercised 
" on our countrymen. Some of his letters fell into 
" the hands of the English, in which he explicitly 
" and basely said that Peace was the best time for 
" making war on the English^ Was there any neces- 
sity for the surrender, or fall of Quebec, consequent 

1 De Montcalm en Canada, p. 202. 



Il8 The Fall of New Finance. 

upon Montcalm's defeat? I hold not. It was pre- 
mature, and the result of military incapacity of Dr. 
Yaudreuil and De Ramezay. 

On the afternoon of the 13th, after the hurried 
Council in which the Governor-G-eneral wished to 
surrender at once, De Ramezay, the Commandant at 
Quebec, simply instructed to retain the city as 
long as he could, the Grovernor moved off with his 
legion of 10,000 men (the balance of Montcalm's 
army and his own) to safe quarters, beyond the 
range of the English guns. ^ De Levis had been 
summoned to return to taki^ command of the army. 
Making all haste possible, he reached Yaudreuil's 
camp at Jacques Cartier on the 17th, and exclaimed, 
" Never was there such a rout, as that of Quebec ; 
" the people are running away with fear, I met them 
" as far as Three Rivers." He immediately upbraided 
Vaudreuil for forsaking Quebec ^ with such an army 
of fresh troops as he beheld before him — fully 13,000 
men. He enjoined immediate return and reopening 

1 Ainsi, M. Saunders eut la satisfaction de voir fuir devant lui 
une armee plus formidable que la sienne. — Memoirs S. de C, p. 166. 

(Translation.) Thus Saunders had the satisfaction of seeing 
flying before him an army much larger than his own. 

'^ De Montcalm en Canada, p 222. 



The Fall of New Fyance. 1I() 

of the battle. De Yaudreuil, fearful that his instruc- 
tions to De Ramezay may have caused a capitula- 
tion, sent avant courriers to stop it, — while every 
haste was made by the army to reach the field ere it 
was too late. They reached it only in time to see 
— as in a Fata Morgana — the Lilies of France 
reversed, ^ and inscribed Perfidia Eversa, while the 
stern reality showed the proud banner of England 
floating from the flag-staff at the citadel, the gates 
wide open, and the 241 cannon they had so frequently 
loaded, now turned forever, crammed to the muzzle, 
against themselves. 

From this scene of perfidy, let us turn to a bright 
oasis of courage and duty exemplified by woman. 

In the valley of the St. Charles, facing the field of 
battle, stood the Greneral Hospital from the win- 
dows of which the Nuns of St. Augustine order in 
charge, paralyzed with fear, were unwilling witnesses 
of the scene of strife. The knell of the cannon-ball, 
the whizzing of shot, brought death to their sight ; 
pursued, bayonetted or sabred, they saw their loved 
ones fall in the vain attempt to defend that sacred 
land of Canada, the refuge of the pilgrim's cross, the 

' As per De Vaudreuil's orders in De Montcalm en Canada, p. 223. 



120 The Fall of New France. 

harbour of the missionary's delight, where martyr- 
dom at the savages excruciating torture was but the 
passport to eternal bliss beyond. Terror-stricken, 
they open the gates to receive the wounded and 
dying ; friend and foe alike, bleeding, maimed, 
scalped or distorted, Montcalm the heroic general, 
mortally wounded among them, are laid at their 
feet for the merciful treatment of woman, rendered 
more tender by that nursing of religion to which 
they had sacrificed their terrestrial life. Eegardless 
of race or faith, nationality or uniform, they admin- 
istered the sacred calling of their profession with 
that impartiality indicative of true religion borne 
of faith, hope and charity — the one touch of nature 
which makes the whole world kin. 

The actual number in the engagement is still an 
open question. A little dissertation on this import- 
ant point may not be uninteresting. On the part of 
the English, sufficient authority and confirmation 
exist to establish the number, as given by Knox at 
4828, and which I have assumed. On the French 
side the weight of historical evidence is in favor 
of 1940 regulars, 5000 colony troops and Canadian 
militiamen and 500 Indians.^ By including De 

^ For note referring to this, see next page. 



The Fall of New France. 



121 




122 The Fall of New France. 

Bougainville's flying column of 2000 men, we 
would have about the figure of 9580, claimed by 
Knox to have been engaged, which, he says, he 
learned from a French officer as the actual number 
present, and which is confirmed by taking the whole 
force at what it was represented to be, viz., 1*7,000 
strong, divided as follows : ^ With Montcalm in 
battle, 7500 ; with Levis, 1200 ; with De Eamezay, 
2000 ; with Vaudreuil, 8300 ; with De Bougainville, 
2000 ; at Samos and Jacques Cartier, 1000. 

We have other corroborative evidence worthy of 
considerable credence. I allude to the numerous 
sermons and discourses delivered at the time upon 
the public rejoicings which followed. While due 
allowance may be made for the latitude of language 
which such an overwhelming victory may occasion, 
sufficient is left to impress the mind by the unan- 
imity of the statement that " Montcalm's army was 
" greatly superior in number to Wolfe's ;" that it 

' Bigot states (p. 83 Ramezoy's Jfmoira, Quebec, 1861,) "that he 
" had to provide 20,000 rations daily for the Quebec army, or 30,000 
" for the three divisions of the army." Knox, Vol. II, p. 166 
states: '-That a Recollet Fatlier told him that throughout the 
country there were 27,000 Canadian militiamen under arms, apart 
from the Eegulars and Indians." 



The Fall of New France. 123 

was au admitted fact at the time. One of these dis- 
courses, in particular, attracts our attention for its 
truthfulness, and serving to prove the correctness of 
the others, — as it was delivered in the capital itself, 
in the presence of the very army engaged and people 
interested, within a very few days of the occurrence 
of the battle. 

The sermon was that of the Rev. Eli Dawson, 
Chaplain to the Forces, delivered at the Chapel of 
the Ursulines, in Quebec, on the 27th of September, 
1759,^ in which he uses the following language 
(pp. 10-12) :- 

" The indulgence of Providence therefore, without 
" doubt, is to be gratefully acknowledged for every 
" success and advantage, even though the superiority 
" has been never so great on the side of the triumphant 
" party. For it is not in mortals to command success ; 
" the aid of Providence can alone secure the battle 

1 A Discourse delivered at Quebec in the Chappel belonjiing to 
the Convent of the Ursuhns, September 27tli, 1759 ; occasioned by 
the Success of our Arms in the Reduction of that Capital : At the 
request of Brigadier General Monckton, and by Order of Vice 
Admiral Saunders, Commander in Chief. By the Reverend Eli 
Dawson, Chaplain of His Majesty's Ship Sterling Castle, on Board 
of which the Vice Admiral hoisted his Flag, during the Siege. 
London : R. Griffiths, 1760. 



12A The Fall of New Finance. 

" to the strong, and victory to the brave. "We may 
" observe, however, that as it gives a higher relish 
" of joy, so it must be a higher incentive to grati- 
" tude, when the party that is inferior becomes victo- 
" rious. This was evidently our case ! which makes 
" the favor of Providence still greater. For so smatl 
" was the number of our land forces I such the svperiority of 
" the enemy, with all the advantages of their situa- 
" tiou, that they thought themselves secure ; while 
" the highest that our hopes could aspire to, was to be 
" serviceable to our country, by making a diversion 
" in this part of the continent to favour our military 

" operations in another," "But, remember, 

" he is greatly fallen ! Tell hovj he fell., ye proud 
" Towers ! — Ye Eamparts ! "Were ye not Wit- 
" nesses ? Speak with what a blaze of Grlory you 
" saw the Heroe surrounded ! — Tell how ye shook to 
" your Foundations at the presence of the Con- 
" queror ! Tell how you saw your numerous Hosts, like 
''the Dust, scattered over the Plain! Tell how vainly 
" they sought shelter amidst these ghastly ruins ! 
" Ye Mountains of Abrcdiam, decorated with his Tro- 
" phies, tell how vainly ye opposed him, when he 
" mounted your lofty Heights with the strength 



The Fall of Mew France. 12^ 

" and swiftness of an Ea^le ! Stand fixed forever 
" upon your rocky base, and speali: his Name and 
" Glory to all future G-enerations ! Ye Streams of 
" Lawrence ! and propitious Gales ! speed the glad 
" Tidings to his beloved Country ! and let Britannia 
" soon receive the last, the richest pledge of her 
" Heroe's filial Duty and Affection ! Ye Heralds of 
" Fame, ^ already upon the "Wing, stretch your 
" Flight, and swell your Trumpets with the Glory 
" of a Military Exploit through distant Worlds. An 
" Exploit ! which for the fineness of address in Stra- 
" tagem ! the Daringness of the Attempt ! and the 
" Spirit of its Execution! shall take rank with the 
" choicest pieces of Ancient or Modern Story in the 
" Temple of Fame, where it remains immortal ! 
" Whilst, w^e trust in God, He is gone to take Pos- 
" session of that more substantial Immortality, into 
" which all Patriots, all Lovers of Virtue and Man- 
" kind, who hold their Lives in ready resignation to 
" the call of God and their Country, will most 
" assuredly enter. "^ 

1 Alluding to the Expresses sent with the news of the Surrender 
of Quebec to Great Britain and the Continent of America. 

'^ Captain Knox entry of this Sermon in his Historical Journal, 
Vol. II, p. 168, reads : " In consequence of orders for this purpose. 



126 The Fall of New France. 

Among the numerous others, I will give extracts 
from a few of the more important. Chandler says : — ^ 

" On the other hand, passing the deserted Villages 
" and many wonderful occurrences of Providence, 
" come see the scenes opening in the Siege of Que- 
" bee. Altho' Britons love Peace, they can use the 
" sword with bravery, when it is necessary to guard 
" their interests and repel their Foes. Sway'd by a 
" love to their Sovereign and the glory of his arms, 
" with a flush of sanguine spirits, they made an 
" onset. ' The Artillery roars — disgorging mortal 
" Ball — hurling, fiery globes ; which kindle into a 
" furnace of flame, and bursting into ragged instru* 
" ments of ruin, scatter death all around them.' 
" The British Banner moving from one Station to 

" to-dav has been dedicated to Divine Service and a solemn Tlianks- 
" giving for tlie success of His Majesty's Arms, in tlie reduction of 
"this fortress; the troops were excused all duties of labour and 
" fatigue, and about eleven o'clock, the several jegiments marched 
" to the Church of the Ursulines, preceded by our General Officers, 
" where they heard an excellent Sermon suitable to the occasion ; 
" several French merchants, said to be Hugonots, attended, though 
" unacquainted with our language." 

^ Extract from Sermon. Samuel Chandler, A.M. (p. 22-23), 
Pastor of a Church in Glocester, preacthed Thursday, November 29, 
1759, Being the day of the Provincial Anniversary Tliauksgiving. 
Boston : New England. Printed by Green & Russell at their Office 
in Queen Street. 



The Fall of New France. Yl"! 

" another, is set up at length, and part of the troops 
" are arrayed on the Plains of Abraham. Alarm'd 
" at this, the Gallic Bravoes quitted their inaccessible 
" Intrenchments, and advanced with haughty 
" strides, numerous and formidable, with rao-e in a 
" blaze ; like the Griant to crush David. Our bold Bat- 
" talious, comparatively few and despicable, are planted 
" as a Battery of Eock, in a judi( ious disposition, 
" becoming the British Hero who commanded. 
" Courage sat in state on the martial brows. Prow- 
" ess brightened in their aspect. In the critical 
" moment, they arose intrepid, rushed into the 
" thickest havoc of the battle, and fought like men 
" who knew no medium between conquest and 
" death. The fierce attack was broken ; the coward 
" bands were put to flight — their courage fled in the 
" combat — and the tripid multitude fled, like the Roe 
" upon the Mountains, trembling as they fled; and 
" Victory, auspicious to us, spread itself all along the 
" Plain. Pursued with alertness and vigor, they 
" fled to the City and soon surrender — the Capital 
" of New France is surrendered, a Trophy to the 
" conquering arms of G-reat Britain." 



128 The Fall of New Fyance. 

Extract from Mr. Cooper's sermon' (pp. 40-44) : — 
" I find myself at a loss for words upon this 
" memorable occasion. I know not how to express 
" the importance of that success with which it has 
" pleased Grod to bless His Majesty's Arms, and yet 
" I feel it ; and so I doubt not does everyone in this 
" Assembly. Joy sparkles in every eye ; Triumph 
" sits upon every face. But when the Bosom swells 
" with an unusual tide of G-ladness, it is harder to 
" paint what we feel in suitable expressions, than 
" upon more common occasions. 

" Grod has heard our Prayers, and those of our Pro- 
" geuitors. We behold the day which they desired 
" to see, but saw it not. We have received a Salva- 
" tiou from Heaven, greater perhaps than any since 
" the foundation of the Country. The power of 
" Canada is broken. Its Capital is reduced ; and the 
" British Banners float triumphant upon the Walls 

1 Occasioned by the Reduction of Quebec. Preached before His 
Excellency Thomas Pownall, Esq., Captain General and Governor 
in Chief, The Honourable His Majesty's Council and House of 
Representatives of tlie Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New 
England, October 16th, 1759, by request. By Samuel Cooper, A.M., 
Pastor of a Church in Boston. Bostou : New Enu:land ; Printed by 
Green & Russell, and Edes & Gill, by order of His Excellency the 
Governor, and both Houses of Assembly. 



The Fall of New France. j2q 

"of Quebec! Courage is the most brilliant 

" quality to commou eyes, as it is truly the basis of 
" a Soldier. But had this necessary quality been 
" found alone at the head of our small army, it never 
" could have undertaken and effected such various 
" services, for which it was so often divided, with- 
" out giving some fatal advantage to a numerous 
" and watchful Foe. Here then that conduct shone, 
" which strikes with admiration the judicious and 
" marks the great Captain. A sagacity and pru- 
" dence sufficiently animated, but not disturbed or 
" over-borne, by that martial ardor, so natural to the 
" breasts of Heroes. 

" As soon as G-eneral Wolfe had disembarked his 
" Army, he gained upon the Enemy, even without 
" a Battle, and never for a moment quitted his supe- 
" riority. At length, by a motion, prudent as it was 
" bold, meritorious as it was successful, he drew the 
" French, mudi superior in numbers, from their inacces- 
" sible intrenchments, and obtained that great and 
" decisive victory, which was soon followed with 
" the surrender of Quebec. 

" When we consider the situation of his Service 
" in the heart of Canada ; the comparative smallness 
9 



no The Fall of New France. 

" of his force, and the manner in which he employed 
" it, must we not acknowledge, that he had made a 
" successful and shining campaign, even before the 
" Thirteenth of September ! But what an occasion 
" of Grlory to himself, of service to his Prince, and 
" felicity to his Country, did that Day afford ! That 
" remarkable Day, not only exhibited the superiority 
" of British courage, but shewed a young British 
" Commander, who had never before been at the 
" head of an Army, vanquishing by superiority of 
" skill an experienced and successful G-eneral of 
" France." 

Extract from Sermon of Andrew Eliot, M.A.^ 
(pp. 34-37) :— 

" And yet, Grod has caused us to see greater things 
" than these. Amidst all the joy which arose in our 
" breasts, at the success of the British Arms to the 
" westward ; our hearts were in pain for the brave 
" G-eneral Wolfe, who with his little Army was en- 

' Pastor of the New North Church in Boston. Preached October 
25th, 1759. Being a Day of Public Thanksgiving appointed by 
Authority for tlie success of the British Anns tliis year, especially 
in the Reduction of Quebec, the Capital of Canada. Boston: 
Printed by Daniel and John Kneeland for J. Winter in Union 
Street, opposite to the King's Arms. 1759. 



The Fall of New France. ni 

" camped before Quebec, and opposed by the main 
" strength of Canada, commanded by M. Montcalm, 
" a name too well known among ns. We had heard 
" of the difficulties with which this army strug- 
" gled ; of the repulse it had at one time met with ; 
" of the strength of the City ; of the numbers that 
" defended it ; of the impenetrable lines, behind 
" which they had secured themselves. Our last 
" advices were that the G-eneral had made such a 
" change in the situation of our Army, as was like 
" to bring on something decisive. The event has 
" been agreeable to these expectations. It bro't on 
" the battle which has decided the fate of Quebec ; 
" which has decided 'tis probable, the fate of Canada ; 
" that country, which we were ready to fear was 
" never to be conquered ; at least, it gives us reason 
" to hope for this happy consequence. 

" The surrender of this important fortress is an event 
" truly great. It is great, as the welfare of this country 
" is nearly affected with it ; it breaks all the designs 
" of the French ; and affords an agreeable prospect, 
" that our civil and religious privileges will be con- 
" tinned to posterity. It is great, as we may hope, 
" it will put an end to the ravages of the Indians on 



132 The Fall of New France. 

" our frontiers. It is great, as it was attended with 
" diiiiculties, which would have been insurmount- 
" able to any, but a G-eneral of such heroic fortitude 
" and consummate skill, such fine officers, and such 
" intrepid soldiers. It is great, as our army in the 
" battle which introduced it was opposed by near 
" twice their number, with a G-eneral at their head of 
" great experience in the art of war, and who had 
" not yet failed in any attempt he had made. It 
" is great, as these colonies have had this con- 
" quest so long in view, and have met with so many 
'• disappointments in their designs against it. It is 
" great to us, as we were ready to give up all hopes 
" of success ; and no doubt, had we failed in this last 
" struggle, we must have given over the expedition ; 
" the consequences of which, who can tell ! So low 
" were our expectations sunk, that when the news, 
" that Quebec was in the possession of the English 
" first arrived, we could scarce think it a reality : 

" ' It seemed at first a pleasing dream 
Of what we wished to see.' 

" Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our 
" tongues with singing ; joy was painted on every 



The Fall of New France. 133 

" counteuance, but no one knew how to express 
" what he felt." 

Extract from Eev. Jonathan Mayhew, D.D., Pas- 
tor of the West Church in Boston.^ Two Discourses 
delivered October 25th, 1759 (p. 27) :— 

" Behold him there, with his little body of British 
" troops, himself the head to direct, and the soul to 
" animate the whole, if such troops needed anima- 
" tion ; the force of Canada moving towards him 
" with slow and solemn steps, under a try'd, expe- 
" rienced and approved commander ! Unhappy 
" Montcalm ! Courageous at least, if not prudent 
" at this time ! What is it that in an unpropitious 
" hour, tempts thee thus to forego those advantages, 
" which could not, perhaps, have been forced from 
" thee ! What is it that induces thee to put the 
" Capital of Canada, and, with it, the whole country, 
" upon so desperate a risque, as the event of the 

1 Two Discourses delivered October 25th, 1759, Being the day 
appointed by Authority to be observed as a Day of Public Thanks- 
giving for the Success of His Majesty's Arms, more particularly in 
the Reduction of Quebec, the Capital of Canada, v^ith an Appendix 
containing a brief account of two former expeditions against that 
City and Country, which proved unsuccessful, by Jonathan May- 
hew, D.D., Pastor of the West Church in Boston. Boston, New 
England : Richard Draper. 1759. 



134 T^^^^ Fall of New France. 

" ensuing battle ! Perhaps thou reliest on thy superior 
" numbers ! But dost thou not know both British 
" troops and French ones better, than to think 
" the latter can stand before the former on even 
" ground, though the disproportion of numbers be so 

" great!'' 

It has been claimed by military authorities,^ and 
apparently most correctly, that Montcalm's position 
at Beauport was not judicious or advantageous. 
The high ground on the right, or southern, bank of 
the St. Charles would have been the preferable situ- 
ation for the defence of Quebec. Had the French 
army occui^ied this ground, the disembarkation at 
Wolfe's Cove might not have succeeded. The 
battle of Quebec is regarded as even a more fatal 
error. A battle was "Wolfe's object and most gene- 
rally is that of every assailant. To avoid one ought 
consequently to have been that of Montcalm. His 
attack upon Wolfe's corps was gallant, but it was 
rash and precipitate. Finding Wolfe landed, he 
should have retreated within the walls of Quebec 
and have compelled him to attack him there. To 
have established batteries and to have broken 

^ Pricis of tlie Wars in Canada, by General Smythe, p. 80. 



The Fall of New France. 135 

ground, would have beeu an operation requiring 
considerable time and labour. The season was slip- 
ping away rapidl y and the French had every thing 
to gain from delay. There is no doubt the battle of 
the 13th September was unnecessary and uncalled 
for and on this fatal error— whatever the merits of 
Montcalm may be as a man and they were socially 
and morally many — his reputation as a G-eneral 
must rest and the verdict of posterity must be a 
strong condemnation of his ability as a military man 
and G-eneral in command of the defences of Quebec. 
His prowess, which was his forte, served him well 
on other occasions, but at Quebec, where it was of 
no avail, he was outgeneralled and sadly inefficient 
in military tactics. 

Townshend, upon whom, from seniority (Monck- 
ton having been rendered hors-de-combat by a wound), 
the command had devolved, in his official despatch to 
the Grovernment, endeavoured to aggrandize himself 
at the expense of Wolfe and others, who took a much 
more active part in the engagement than fell to his 
lot ; but the ridicule and coolness which this brought 
upon him, soon induced him to rectify his error and 
do tardy justice to the fallen hero and those to 



136 



The Fall of New France. 



whom credit was rightfully due. Wolfe always 
entertained suspicions of his sincerity, and generally 
relegated him to inferior positions in engagements ; 
thus in the battle of Quebec he was placed in com- 
mand of the rear guard in charge of the landing 
place, while Murray, his inferior in rank, was 
placed in the van of the attack/ 

A few days after the capitulation was executed, 
Monckton recovered sufficiently from his wounds to 
resume command. He appointed Murray to take 
charge of the garrison, sent Townshend to England, 
and he himself removed to New York, to which he 
was shortly afterwards appointed Governor. 

Saunders and Townshend immediately returned 
to England, conveying the sick and wounded, and 
the embalmed corpse of the hero "Wolfe, whose sad 
premonitions of death, as related of him, were so soon 

^ He was not a favorite of Wolfe's ! In fact were it not for his 
great family and personal influence, Wolfe would not have con- 
sented to have ha'i him on his force. But the King having given 
away to him in his selection of his intimate friend Guy Carleton, 
against whom the King had personal prejudices, Wolfe, after many 
refusals to do so, consented to Townshend being given the second 
Brigadiership. It was not until the last moment that this consent 
was obtained. In every other respect Wolfe's army was his own 
selection, an unusual privilege granted to him by Pitt. 




WOLFE'S MONUMENT. 



TJie Fall of New France. 1^7 

to be verified. The evening before, in a melancholy 
mood, he deliberately left instructions with and gave 
his valuables to his schoolmate, Captain John Jervis, 
afterwards Admiral Earl St. Vincent, to be conveyed 
to England. Mourning was universal and worn by 
all classes for months. His body was received and 
funeral conducted with as much military display as 
could be shown. To the honor of England be it said^ 
the nation in and out of Parliament could not suffici- 
ently shew its sincere grief at the loss it had sus- 
tained. A magnificent and costly marble monument 
was erected in the nation's mausoleum, Westmin- 
ster Abbey, but a greater monument and a more 
lasting one, was erected to his memory, namely, 
the page of history inscribed to his merits as a man, 
a hero of many battles, a patriot and general, 
esteemed by friend and foe, which will be as ever- 
lasting as the nation of Canada, which he helped so 
materially to establish. 

Brigadier-General Murray was left in command at 
Quebec with ^000 men and two 20-gun ships. He 
was appointed Civil and Military Governor of the 
same.^ 

^ In Quebec he obtained 241 pieces of cannon, viz. : Ten 36- 
pounders, forty -five 24 do., 180 18 do., thirteen 12 do., forty-three 



■38 



The Fall of Neiu France. 



The French had too important interests at stake at 
Quebec, to give much opposition elsewhere. The 
detachment of Bourlamaque, some 3000 strong, 
were instructed to harass and prevent the advance 
of Amherst, but not to give battle or risk valuable 
lives. Thus, as Amherst penetrated his route, he 
met with little opposition ; obstacles unimportant 
were placed in his way, and, as he overcame them, 
he only found a burning or blown up fortress for his 
reward. Ticonderoga, the invincible Carillon of 
two previous campaigns. Crown Point and other 
strongholds were thus treated, and by the time he 
reached the St. Lawrence, he found it too late to 
advance to the assistance of Wolfe, and decided upon 
wintering at Crown Point, where he could begin 
operations from, early the next season. He left 
Colonel Haviland in charge with 3300 men. 

The Niagara expedition was entrusted to Generals 

8 do., sixty-seven 6 do., thirty-three 4 do., seven 3 do., five 2 do. ; 
mortars, twenty-one; shells, 1100; with a considerable qnantity of 
powder, ball, small arms, intrenching tools, etc., etc — Entick. 

Capt. John Montresor, an Engineer whose Jonrnal is published 
by the New York Historical Society, states tliat in the vicinity of 
Quebec they obtained 330 cannon, 20 mortars, 501 barrels of powder, 
with great quantities of ammunition. He found the fortifications of 
Quebec in good order and very strong. Page 234 Vol. 1881, 





^. 




c^/^T^^c-c. 




The Fall of New France. I^Q 

Prideaux and Sir "Wm. Johnson. Their duty was to 
annihihite the French posts on the Lakes and in the 
Ohio Yalley. Fort Niagara, under the efficient guard- 
ing of Captain Pouchot, after a three weeks resist- 
ance, finally surrendered, handing over 600 men as 
prisoners. G-eneral Prideaux being killed early in 
the engagement, the command devolved on Johnson. 

G-eneral Stanwix, in the Ohio Valley, met with no 
opposition. 

Thus the end of 1759 saw the French dominions 
reduced to the narrow strip of territory on the St. 
Lawrence between Jacques Cartier and Kingston, 
Montreal and Isle-aux-Noix being the only posts of 
any importance to reduce. 

After the falling of Quebec and its surrender, De 
Vaudreuil and Levis moved their headquarters to 
Montreal, leaving 1000 men in winter quarters at 
Jacques Cartier. 

The first attempt in 1760, as soon as the climate 
permitted, was naturally to recover Quebec. De 
Levis and De Vaudieuil, w4th 6000 men, well drilled 
and trained for this last and special effort and a 
large concourse of irregulars, — the country having 



MO The Fall of New France. 

been drummed np for the purpose,^ — took their 
position at Sillery on the 28th April. Murray, fall- 
ing into the error of Montcalm, drew up his troops, 
some 3000 men and twenty field-pieces, on the 
Heights of Abraham,^ and opened the attack by an 
advance on Levis at Sillery and Ste. Foy, thus get- 
ting beyond the protection of his cannon ! Being 
outnumbered and over-reliant he was defeated with 
a loss of 1000 men and the cannon he had tempora- 
rily left in his rear. French loss was 1800 men killed 
and wounded. Retreating within the walls of Que- 
bec, he was immediately invested by Levis. The latter 
erected redoubts and completed his batteries, open- 
ing fire against the city on the 11th May ; but find- 
ing two English vessels of war arriving on the 15th, 
and not knowing how many more were in the wake, 
he determined upon desisting and withdrawing his 
army to Montreal for a final stand, evacuating his 
position on the l^th. 

For an insufficient reason, Levis precipitately 
abandoned an advantageous position and siege, with 

' Amounting in all to 13,000 men (see jip. 122-124, Quebec Lit. 
and Hist. Soc, Sess. 1869, Part VII). — Rameau, La France aux 
Colonies, p. 86. Smith's Canada, 1815, p. 335. 

^ Idem, Lit. and Hist. Soc, pp. 122-124. Smith's History of 
Canada, p. 335. 




cJ^ ^Jj2.p\jr^ 



The Fall of New France. MI 

a well disciplined force of overwhelming numbers, 
as compared with Murray's handful of soldiers, 
many of whom were prostrated from the effects of 
scurvy. Such advantages in the hands of an able 
General could not have failed to replace Quebec in 
the hands of the French, His disgraceful with- 
drawal equalizes Abercromby's action at Carillon. 
Well may it be called " De Levis' folly." 

The English campaign for 1^60 was a descent of 
the army of Amherst, 10,170 strong, including Y60 
Indians under Sir Wm. Johnson, by the Mohawk 
River and the Oneida Lake, to Oswego ; there to 
embark on Lake Ontario and to proceed to Montreal 
by descending the St. Lawrence. Colonel Haviland, 
with his 3300 men, was to advance from Crown 
Point by Lake Champlain upon Montreal. General 
Murray was to ascend the St. Lawrence with what- 
ever disposable force he might have, after leaving a 
proper garrison for the security of Quebec. The col- 
lapse of Levis' investiture enabled him to move with 
2450 men. Thus, by these arrangements, a force 
consisting of nearly 16,000 men, it was expected^ 
would be assembled against Montreal.^ 

1 Smythe's Precis o/ the Wars in Canada, p. 84. Smith's Canada, 



1/12 The Fall of Nezv France. 

Military authorities have since strongly con- 
demned this campaign as laid out by Amherst, as at 
many points in this open and dangerous route, the 
Greneral's army was open to complete annihilation 
had any troops opposed it. But no ! De Levis was 
not prepared to expect so rash an experiment at the 
hands of so experienced a G-eneral as Amherst ; his 
supposition being that the Champlain would be the 
sole route of approach for the English army on 
Montreal. He therefore fortified Isle-aux-Noix and 
Chambly as strong as he could make them, while 
detaching a considerable number of his troops at 
points on the St. Lawrence — especially Sorel — to 
contest the advent of Murray should he attempt to 
come up from Quebec. 

Amherst thus met little or no obstruction except 
that ordained by Nature, in which he was sadly 
worsted, having lost over sixty-four boats and 100 
lives in the Cedars Rapids alone. ^ He reached La- 
Quebec, 1815, Vol. I, Appendix XIX, gives in detail the numbers 
and corps forming the three armies. Strange to say, this figure, so 
precisely known and authenticated, has been magnified by De 
Vaudreuil in his despatches to France at 32,000 ; by De L^vis at 
40,000 ; by Beaugrand, in Le Vieux Muntrial, at 32,000 ; and by 
De Bonnecbose Montcalm at 20,000. 

^ The contemporary portrait of Amherst given herein, shows 



The Fall of New France. \/V\ 

chine on the 6th September, marching quickly upon 
Montreal ; to the west of which, in a plain/ he took 
up his ground the same evening, when overtures 
were at once made by De Yaudreuil for a complete 
surrender and termination of warfare, and which 
absorbed the whole of the next day discussing. 

Haviland's contingent reached Isle-aux-Noix on 
the 16th August, erected batteries, and prepared to 
attack it ; when, upon the 2^th, the garrison was 
withdrawn by De Bougainville, who retreated to 
Montreal. On his further advance. Forts St. John 
and Chambly were also evacuated. He then crossed 
country and reached Longueuil, opposite Montreal, 
on the south side of the St. Lawrence, and encamped 
immediately opposite Murray's forces on the 6th 
September. 

Murray left Quebec on the 14th July in 51 vessels, 
meeting with little opposition as he advanced up the 

him in a contemplative attitude, while his troops are seen descend- 
ing the Rapids — a danger which the artist was evidently alive to 
and paints Amherst as feeling. 

' I locate his position about the foot of Cote des Neiges hill, 
between Guy street and Clarke avenue on the one side ; Sherbrooke 
street and Dorchester street on the other. The house in which the 
Capitulation was signed existed until quite recently, and was at 
the headfof the hill, near the site of the C6te des Neiges old toll-gate. 



IZLZL The Fall of New France. 

river, notwithstanding the elaborate preparations 
made by De Levis to prevent his advent. The 
enemy were evidently discouraged from making any 
further stand, and the hahitanU already began to show 
that it was a "forlorn hope" to offer any further 
resistance ; profiting by the " Placart," or Proclam- 
ation, issued by Murray, they eagerly accepted the 
right hand of fellowship and friendship and ^000 of 
them en route subscribed to the oath of loyalty to King 
Greorge II. Awaiting Amherst at Isle Ste. Therese, 
as soon as Haviland's contingent arrived, Murray 
advanced on the ^th to within two miles below the 
city, where both were informed of the arrival of 
Amherst and of the negotiations pending. 

The conjunction of these three armies within 
forty-eight hours of each other, after the many mis- 
haps they were subject to in such long and danger- 
ous routes, and occurring within the time originally 
determined upon, shows a marvellous conception of 
military tactics and precision of movement reflecting 
the highest credit and renown upon the Commander- 
in-Chief Amherst, and G-enerals Murray and Haviland, 
who so successfully carried it out. 

Illustrative of Indian character and the difficulty 



The Fall of New France. M C 

of restraining them from excesses in time of war, 
may be mentioned that, upon the surrender of Fort 
Levis, on an island at the head of the G-allops Rapids, 
the Indians desired to enter the fort to massacre the 
garrison. G-eneral Amherst, being apprised of their 
intentions, immediately sent orders to Sir William 
Johnson to persuade them, if possible, to desist; 
declaring, at the same time, that if they offered to 
enter the fort, he would compel them to retire. The 
stores, he promised, should be delivered to them, as 
his army was not in want of what few blankets 
might be found there. This message had its desired 
effect. The Indians, though with great reluctance 
and apparent ill humour, were prevailed on to return 
to their camp. However, their resentment increased 
to such a degree that Sir William Johnson informed 
the G-eneral he was apprehensive they would quit 
the army. The G-eneral replied "that he believed 
" his army was fully sufficient for the service he 
" was going upon without their assistance ; that, 
" although he wished to preserve their friendship, 
" he could not prevail on himself to purchase it at 
" the expense of countenancing the horrid barbarities 
" they wanted to perpetrate ;" and added, " that if 
10 



146 



The Fall of New France. 



" they quitted the army, and committed any acts of 

' cruelty, he would on his return assuredly chastise 

" them." Upon this, the whole retired with the 

exception of 170, who were afterwards distinguished 

upon their arrival at Montreal by the gift of a medal 

from the G-eneral, that they might " be known at the 

English posts, and receive the civil treatment their 

conduct deserved."^ 

Amherst, with great generosity, had consented to 

all the fifty-five articles of capitulation requested by 

De Vaudreuil with the exception of a few reserved 

for the Royal sanction and two which he declined, 

viz., the perpetual neutrality of the inhabitants and 

military honors for the army. The Chevalier de Levis, 

upon being refused this latter, desired to retire to 

St. Helen's Island and fight it out to the last man ; 

but being peremptorily forbidden by De Vaudreuil, he 

broke his sword rather than surrender it unsheathed, 

while the regiments burnt their colors to prevent 

them being carried in triumph by their enemies." 

' Mant6, p. 306: This medal is well known to numismatists. The 
obverse has a view of Montreal ; the reverse plain, with the name 
and tribe of the Indians engraved. As it was given before the 
General's departure, and is very archaic, it must have been made 
in Montreal at the time. 

^ De, Montcalm en Canada, p. 232. Amherst was doubtful that 




/{■Aj//rc/^/^r. 



u^/u 



fy- 





:y^TJi£:^ji:?/y^ ^%?//ri/^ . z/^' 







The Fall of New France. IA7 

The following morning, the 8th September, with- 
out a g-nn being fired, the complete surrender of the 
Province was made, and a capitulation to that effect 
was signed by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the 
Grovernor-Greneial. Colonel Haldimand, afterwards 
Grovernor, being the first to enter the city and plant 
the British Ensign of possession. 

Four thousand and eleven regulars, with 16,422 
militiamen, were comprised in the capitulation 
of Montreal and submitted their arms to their 
conquerors,' while 90,000 souls^ exchanged the tur- 
bulent and despotic Fleurs-de-lis of the Bourbons for 
the broad banners of St. G-eorge, where liberalism 
and freedom in their broadest sense reigned supreme, 
and to none more were these exemplified than to the 

the f:olours did not exist, and desired to have the baggage searched. 
Archives Report, 1884. The colours carried by the French regi- 
ments at the Quebec battle are described by Capt. Knox to be: 
A white silk flag, with three fleiurs de Ins, within a wreath or circlet, 
in the center part, and two tassels at the spear end, all of gold. 

^ Smith's Canada, Quebec, 1815, Vol. I, p. 372. Ferland's Canada, 
Vol. II, p. 606. 

- Knox, Vol. II, p. 461, 1780, claims there are over 100,000 souls. 
Abbe Raynal, Histoire Fhilosophique Genhve, 1780, 4 to., p. 125, gives 
the population of Canada in 1758 at 91,000 exclusive of the French 
army and 16,000 domiliciated Indians in the midst of the French 
habitations. 



148 



The Fall of New France. 



conquered peasantry/ who had been held in a state 
of ignorance, vassalage and religious tutelage equal 
to that of the dark and middle ages, from which 
an emancipation such as the present could not but 
be hailed with delight. 

Never were more generous terms conceded by any 
conqueror than those granted by the English com- 
manders, Townshend and Amherst.^ Truly Wolfe 
said in his manifesto to the Canadians : " We come 
" not to disturb you, either in property or religion, 
" so long as you remain neutral — we come to war on 
" our enemies, the army and navy of France ! " How- 
soever much the Canadians forfeited, by their actions, 
this intended clemency, as a legacy of the beloved 
Wolfe, his army and brother officers generously 
respected his wish, and carried it out wherever 
opportunity offered. To Wolfe and Amherst, Bos- 
cawen and Saunders, the French Canadians owe the 
liberty they enjoy to-day in religious privileges and 
rights, language, laws, and hereditary national obser- 
vances conceded to them, so contrary to the prevail - 

^ See Ferland's Canada, p. 606-607. 

'^ " Les Anglais accorderent sans difficulty les articles que Ton 
" avait demandes tant pour la religion que pour I'avantage du 
" Citoyen. La Joye qu'ils eurent de se voir en possession les rendit 



The Fall of New France. j^q 

ing code of their conquerors, affording no parallel 
example of liberality to the vanquished in ancient 
or modern history. 

By the articles of capitulation, the territory ceded 
by the Marquis de Vaudreuil as Grovernor, forming 
what he claimed the sovereignty of France over 
Canada, comprehended the Lakes Huron, Superior 
and Michigan and a direct line therefrom to the Red 
Lake, taking in by a serpentine course the River 
Ouabachi, as far as its junction with the Ohio, and 
from thence extends along the latter river as far, 
inclusively, as its influx into the Mississippi. The 
eastern boundary being the territory watered by the 
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ocean.' Louisiana had 
also been ceded about this period by secret compact 
to Spain. 

" les plus mod^res de Ions les vainqueurs, nous ne pourrions sans 
" injustice nous plaindre de la fagon dont ils nous ont traites," 
etc. — Edation d'une Religieuse de VUopital General de Quebec en 1759, 
p. 11. 

(Translation.) The English readily accorded the articles 
demanded, religious toleration and civil advantages for the inhab- 
itants. Happy in having acquired possession of a country, in 
which they had on several occasions failed, they were the most 
moderate of conquerors. We could not without injustice complain 
of the manner in which they treated us. — Relation of a Hospital 
Nun of Quebec, 1759, p. 11. 

^ Hansard Parliamentary History of England, Vol. XV., 1753-65, 
p. 1061. 



I ^0 The Fall of New France. 

By the Treaty of Paris, signed ou the 10th Feb- 
ruary 1763, these boundaries were ratified and indeed 
extended, the territory being divided into the Pro- 
vinces of Canada, East and West Florida. 

Amherst, as Commander-in-Chief, received the 
submission of Murray as Grovernor of Quebec, but 
immediately re-affirmed him in it, and further 
appointed Brigadier-Greneral Thomas Grage as Grov- 
ernor of the District of Montreal, and Colonel Ralph 
Burton as Grovernor of the District of Three Rivers ; 
these districts to have the same limits as under the 
French regime for all matters of civil administration. 
•It is significant that Greneral Gage, in his proclama- 
tion, styles himself Grovernor-Greneral ; but his com- 
mission from Amherst does not seem to warrant the 
assumption. These three Grovernors seem to have 
given universal satisfaction in the difficult and 
arduous positions they assumed, and we have on 
record a very interesting and early document con- 
firming Grage's popularity with the new subjects.^ 

1 On the 25th October, 1760, George II suddenly died. As soon 
as the news reached Montreal, the following address was presented 
to Governor Gage and largely signed by his new subjects, who also 
went into mourning on the occasion. It shows how early (within 
sixty days) the benign influence of British rule was felt in render- 
ing the inhabitants loyal, well satisfied and loving subjects of a 





/y^^ 



The Fall of New France. Kl 

Nations as well as individuals are born to woe 
and misery, with occasional sunbeams of happiness 
and joy. France has had her full share of both, like- 
wise her cherished colony, New France. "While woe 
and anguish may be felt at the trials and troubles 
of the Mother Country, by which the Colonial loving 
subjects of France were subjected to a foreign yoke 
and nationality ; joy and contentment should rest on 
their brow at the improved position this change 
effected in their welfare. Father Charlevoix, the 

dynasty they had hitherto beea taught to hate, despise and wage 
unceasing warfare upon, accompanied by all the cruelties and 
barbarisms their savage allies could teach them : — 

" To General Gage, Governor of Montreal. 

" Cruel destiny, then, has cut short the glorious days of so great 
" and magnanimous a Monarch. We are come to pour out our 
" grief into the paternal bosom of your Excellency ; the solo tribute 
" of gratitude of a people who will never cease to exult in the mild- 
" ness and moderation of their new masters. The General who 
" conquered us has treated us more like victors than vanquished ; 
" and has left us a precious Pledge (the meaning of Gage in 
" French) by name and deed of his goodness to us. What acknow- 
" lodgments are we not bound to make for so many favours ! They 
•' shall be forever engraved on our hearts in indelible characters. 
" We entreat your Excellency to continue to us tlie honour of your 
" protection. We will endeavour to deserve it by our zeal, and the 
" earnest prayers we shall offer up to the Almighty Being for your 
" health and preservation." — Annual Register, 1761, p. 91 ; Hochelaga 
Depicta, p. 65. 



1^2 The Fall of New France. 

eminent historian, in his History of New France, 
Vol. III., p. 80, says : " There exists in New England 
" (in 1721) an opulence which it would appear we do 
"not know how to emulate ; while in New France, 
" there is a poverty attempted to be hidden by an air 
" of ease." When the portals of New France were 
opened by the invasion of the Britons — as were those 
of their own country (England), in A.D. 1066, by the 
ancestors of the very race they here came to relieve — a 
flood of light and civilization, enhanced by the power 
of the printing press, was thrown in among the inhabi- 
tants to which they had been utter strangers ; the 
reflex of which is seen to-day in the happiness, 
contentment, enlightenment, intellectuality, power 
and opulence of over two millions of the very people 
Father Charlevoix regretted, in 1721, were so far 
behind their English neighbors, an amelioration 
which could not have taken place had they remained 
under the same rules and restrictions France imposed 
upon them. They have only to contrast their happy 
position with that of their kindred and nationality 
in Louisiana, whose very language, customs, religion, 
laws ; aye ! nationality, have been crushed out and 
suppressed, to acknowledge the debt of gratitude 



The Fall of New France. I ^\ 

they owe England, and the love and respect they 
should entertain everlastingly for the people who 
permitted them such privileges and benefits, and 
whose descendants have so faithfully observed and 
carried them out to this day. But few nations 
in the world would be sufficiently magnanimous 
or liberal minded to tolerate a "Nation within a 
Nation," and as nothing in the articles of capitulation 
or the cession at the Treaty of Peace alters the terms 
conceded to them by their valorous conquerors, it 
was never contemplated the concessions they made 
would be permitted to become an abuse to the detri- 
ment of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

Greneral Amherst returned to New York almost 
immediately ; received the thanks of the British Par- 
liament, was created a Knight of the Bath, granted a 
pension of <£15,000 a year to himself and descend- 
ants in perpetuity ; while the two nations, England 
and America, outvied each other in demonstrations 
of joy at the termination of French rule on the 
Continent of America, by the Fall of New France. 



DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. Major-General Wolfe's Letter. Frontispiece. 

On the 17th August, 1759, Knox (Vol. 11, p. 23) records the following General 
Order:— "Mr. Cameron, a volunteer in the Light Infantry of General 
" Lascelles' Regiment, having distinguished himself in a remarkable manner 
" in the defence of a house, with only a sergeant, corporal and sixteen men 
" of Lascelles Light Infantry, against a body of Savages and Canadians 
" greatly superior in number, the General has ordered that the first vacant 
" commission be given to Mr. Cameron in acknowledgment of his good con- 
" duct and very gallant behaviour. A flanking party of the 28th Regi- 
" ment, commanded by a sergeant, distinguished themselves upon the same 
" occasion, and hastened to the assistance of his friends with very great 
" spirit." 

This important letter confirms the foregoing engagement, and was written 
from the camp at Montmorenci (L'Ange Guardien), either to Lieut. -Col. 
Guy Carleton, under whom the Light Infantry were commanded, or to 
Lieut. -Col. Hale, in command of the 47th Lascelles Regiment. It is a 
valuable specimen of Wolfe's ordinary style of writing and signature, and 
is reproduced in fac simile size and color of paper, as well as .script. 
His autograph letters are exce edingly rare and command very high prices 
when offered at auction in England In 1856 a sale is recorded at £5.17.6 of 
an uninteresting family letter (Wolfe's Life, by Wright, p. 500). 



158 Description of Ilhtstrations. 

2. The Hon. Vice-Admiral Boscawen. p. 39. 

Son Viscount Falmouth. Bom 19th Aug., 1711. Married, 1742, Frances, 
daughter of W. Evelyn Glanville, Esq., of St. Clair, Kent. Age 30, 
Captain of the "Shoreham." Distinguished himself at the taking 
of Porto Belle and the Seige of Carthagena. Age 33, promoted to the 
" Dreadnought "—60 guns. Captured the " Medea," the first French ship of 
war captured after the declaration of war, in 1744, Captain Hocquart in com- 
mand. Distinguished himself under Anson in 1747, for which he was made 
(age 36) Rear Admiral of the Blue. Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty at 
age 38. In 1753 he again captured the first French vessels at the beginning of 
the Seven Years "War, the " Alcyde " and the " Lys " (age 44), when Hoc- 
quart became his prisoner the third time . "Was one of the council at Halifax 
which decided upon the expulsion of the Acadians. In 1758 (age 47) he was 
in command of the expedition against Cape Breton and Louisbourg, 
which he successfully reduced. In 1759 he captured and defeated Admiral 
Clue in the Mediterranean. Four times thanked by the House of Com- 
mons, made a Privy Councillor, granted a pension of £3,000 a year, made 
General of the Marines in 1760, with £3,0C0 a year attached. This brave, 
intelligent and efiicient officer, known aflTectionately by his sailors as "Wry 
Necked Dick, or Old Dreadnought," died the 10th January, 1761, aged 49 
years, leaving three sons and two daughters, at Hatchlands Park, a seat 
finished, he said, " at the expense of the French, the enemies of his country." 
Buried in parish church of St. Michael, Peukivel, in Cornwall 
His two eldest boys dying young, his third son became Viscount Falmouth. 
From a wound in the shoulder his head became bent, like that of Alexander 
the Great, and it was of him Pitt said " that when he proposed expeditions 
" to other commanders he heard nothing but difficulties, but when he 
" applied to him these were either set aside or expedients suggested to 
" remove them. It is easier to bend the head like Alexander or Boscawen 
" than to imitate their courage or intrepidity." 

(Portrait engraved by Kavenet from original painting.) 

3. LiEDT.-CoL. John "Winslow- p. 44. 

Native of New England, son of Isaac Winslow, of Marshfleld, Mass., 
great-grandson of Edward "Winslow, one of the first Plymouth settlers. 



Description of Illustrations. 1 59 

Captain of the Provincials in the important expedition to Cuba in 1740. 
Afterwards an officer in the English Army and a Major-General of the 
Militia. Commander of Provincial troops in the expeditions to the Kenne- 
bec and Crown Point, and was selected by Governor Shirley to command the 
troops raised in Massachusetts for service in Nova Scotia in 17£5. Col. Wins- 
low served under General (then Colonel) Monokton at the capture of the 
Forts Beaus^jour and Baie-Verte, or Gaspereaux, and was in command of 
the most important and populous station at Grand Pr6 for the expulsion of 
the Acadians (age 52), Monckton being the Commander in Chief of the forces 
engaged in the deportation. Was a councillor of Massachusetts, and so 
great was bis popularity, says Minot, that he raised for the expedition under 
Monckton 2,000 men in the short space of two months. He served in several 
other engagements of the war, and died in 1774, aged 71. He left two sons, 
Pelham and Isaac, both attached to the Eoyal cause in the American 
Revolt. He was remarkable for his urbanity of manner, kind heartiness and 
genial qualities; characteristics inconsonant with the accusations of 
inhumanity and cruelty some writers of the present day endeavor to load him 
with. 
(From the original portrait in Massachusetts Historical Society.) 

4. Expulsion Medal. p. 49, 

5. Fac-simile from Medailles Louis le Gkant). p. 50. 

The medal is from an original issued to commemorate the expulsion of the 
English from St. Kitts in 1666. The page is from the large volume entitled 
" Medailles sur les principaux evenements du Regne de Louis le Grand avec 
" des explications historiques par I'Academie Eoyale des Medailles et des 
" Inscriptions. A Paris de I'Imprimerie Royal, 1702." 

The translation of the text is : Ihe English Expelled from the Island of St. 
Christopher. The Island of St. Christopher, abundant in sugar, tobacco and 
other merchandise, is one of the Antilles group, situated in the Ocean of 
South America. The French and English, both together, took possession in 
1626, and to avoid conflict they divided the island equally between them. 
Each one enjoyed peaceably their half, when the war of England and France 
in Europe spread to America and caused the colonies to arise. The English 
Governor, who was the first to learn of the rupture between the two Crowns, 
wished to avail himself of it, and prepared to surprise the French. But 



i6o Description of Illustrations. 

these, warned of his designs by his preparations and movements, dared, though 
inferior in number, to prevent him, and immediately attacked several of 
the English posts and expelled the people. They were not discouraged even 
by the death of their commander, who was killed in the second attack. They 
pursued their enterprise just as happily as they began, forcing their enemies 
to surrender their forts, their cannon and their arms by capitulation, until 
they became alone possessors of an island so important to the commerce of 
the West Indies. This is the subject of the above medal. We see an Ameri- 
can squaw, having at her feet a shield with the arms of England, and holding 
up a shield with the arms of France. Legend, Colonia Francorum Stabilita, 
The French Colony Made Firm. In exergue Anglis ex Insula Sancti Chris- 
tophore exturbatis, 1666. The English Expelled from the Island of Saint 
Christopher, 1666. 
(This French version of the expulsion differs materially from the English.) 

6. La Marquise de Pompadour. p. 65. 

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, daughter of a butcher of the Invalides, or, ac- 
cording to others a farmer of Fert6 sous Jouare, who was condemned of 
malversations and ran away. Born in 1722, she received a liberal education 
from her mother ; she was married to Mr. Lenormand L'Etioles, nephew of 
the Faimer General Normand Tourneham. While hunting in the forest of 
Senart, on the borders of which Tourneham held an estate, the King had an 
opportunity purposely afforded him of sreing Madame d'Etioles, with whose 
charms he was immediately enamored. Removing her to his Palace, she 
was created Marchioness of Pompadour in 1745, and retained a complete as- 
cendancy over the heart of the King, being placed at the head of his Court, 
(to the sacrifice of the Queen, with one short interval) until her death, in 
1764- She amassed enormous wealth, but spent it also lavishly in entertain- 
ments for the King's amusements. Politically her power was of the greatest, 
and for many years all important appointments, especially during the Seven 
Years War, were obtained only through her hands. She was clever, bright in 
conversation, handsome, and one of the greatest bibliophilists France has 
had, her collection of books being carefully bound and of the best editions, 
command great prices when offered for sale. Wolfe in his letter to his father 
from Paris, of 10th January, 1753, states : " I was introduced yesterday to the 
" King and the Royal family) and lastly to Madame Pompadour and M. de 



Description of Illustrations. i6i 

" St. Contest, the minister. They were all very gracious as far as courtesies, 
" baws and smiles go, for the Bourbons seldom speak to anybody. Madame 
" la Marquise entertained us at her toilette. We found her curling her 
" hair. She is extremely handsome, and, by her conversation with the Am- 
" bassador and others that were present, I judge she must have a good deal 
" of wit and understanding." (It was the custom of Pompadour to receive 
visitors in her dressing-room, in which there was no seat except her own. 
It was only when the King entered that she ordered a chair for His Ma- 
jesty.) On the 26th October, 1752, Wolfe dined with her, and remarks, in a 
letter to his mother, that " Madame Pompadour is a very agreeable woman. I 
" had the good fortune to be placed near her for a considerable time." In 
January, 1753, la Marquise was raised to the tabouret, with the rank and pre- 
rogatives ol Dunhesse, became qualified to be seated in the Queen's presence, 
to be called "' Cousin " and receive the Royal kiss- 
(The portrait is from that of " La Soci6t6 des Bibliophiles de France") 

7. Lieut.-General Marquis op Montcalm. p. 67. 

Louis Joseph de Saint V^ran, born in 1712 at Candiac Languedoc, of a 
family of Rouersue, one of whose ancestors married into the Gozon family, 
of whom tradition says vanquished the Dragon which desolated the Island of 
Rhodes- Montcalm early entered the army and served 17 years as ensign, 
lieutenant and captain in the regiment of Hainault, and was made Colonel of 
Auxerrois Regiment in 1743. He received three wounds at the battle under 
Plaisance, the 3rd June, 1746, and two others at Assiette. Made Brigadier of 
the King's Armies in 1747, and Mestre du, Camp (Cavalry Captain) of the new 
Regiment of Cavalry called after him, in 1719. In 17£6 he was created Field 
Marshal and Commander in Chief of the French troops in America. For 
the victory at Carillon, 8th July, .7.58, he was created Lieut.-General. His 
titles were : Marquis de Montcalm, Seigneur de Gozon et de Qabriac, Com- 
mander of the Order of St. Louis. His arms are quartered with those of Gozon 
andGabriac. He was short in stature, but with a handsome face and figure 
and very animated piercing eyes. An Indian chief on first seeing him could 
not believe that so small a man could be the hero of so many victories, but 
observed that "he saw the vivacity of the eagle in his eye and the greatness of 
the oak." Like Wolfe, he was an able general, a zealous patriot, a staunch 
friend, and a father to all. He was beloved and respected by all his soldiers 
11 



1 62 Description of Illustrations. 

and officers, and most upright in all his dealings. Mortally wounded while 
on horseback endeavoring to prevent the flight of his army at the Plains of 
Abraham, he was removed to the General Hospital and died the next morn- 
ing, 14th September, 1759, at 4 o'clock, aged 47 years, and was buried in the 
Ursuline Convent in Quebec. He left a wife, five children (two boys and 
three girls) and his mother to deplore his loss, to whom the King continued 
a pension of 4,000 livres, and to each of his children 900. The eldest son was 
given the regiment of his father, and the other son a company in the same 
regiment. 

(The portrait given is from a private photograph taken directly from the 
original painting in the possession of the present Marquis of Montcalm, who 
presented it personally to L. A. Hubert, Esq. , the eminent Canadian sculptor 
of this city, and to whom he inscribed it; " Offert a Monsieur Hubert en 
" temoignage d'amitid et de sympathie. — Mis. de Montcalm." Reproduced 
by kind permission of Mr. Hdbert, and it is the first time that this faithful 
and excellent likeness has been presented to the public in facsimile of the 
original painting.) 

8. Colonel Bougainville, A.D.C. p. 96. 

Louis Antoine de Bougainville was born 11th November, 1729, at Paris- 
Studied and was admitted to the law, but left it to enter the army. He en- 
tered the Black Musqueteer Regiment- Studying languages and mathe- 
matics, he published in 1752 a work on mathematics. He was made Brevet- 
Major in the battalion of Picardie, Aide-de-Camp to the famous Chevert at 
Sarre Louis in 1754, and was sent to London as secretary to the Embassy in 
1755, where he joined the Royal Society of that city. The same year he 
was made Aide-de-Camp to the Marquis of Montcalm and Captain of* 
Dragoons, and left for Canada on the 27th September, 1756. Promoted to 
Colonel in 1759 and created Knight of St. Louis, his recognized talents and 
ability brought him to the fore of de Bourlemaque, the second in command 
of the French Army in America- After the surrender of the colony he re- 
turned to France and served at the Battle of the Rhine in 1761 with dis- 
tinction- After the peace he entered the marine service, and founded the 
Faulkland Islands, subsequently making a tour of the world, he discovered 
and placed under French sovereignty several important islands in the 
Pacific. He returned to France on the 14th March, 1769, and published an 



Description of Illustrations. 163 

account of his voyages. Took part in the American Revolution, where he 
commanded with distinction several vessels of the line. He was created an 
admiral and a field marshal. After forty years of service, Bougainville re- 
tired and devoted himself to science. In 1796 he was made a member of the 
French Institute, Count of the Empire, a Senator of France and Grand 
oflBcer of the Legion of Honour. He died, aged 82, on the 31st August, 1811. 
(The portrait is from an engraving from a painting of about the period he 
was in Canada.) 

9. Quebec in 1759. p. 97. 

View of the City taken from the Island of Orleans, and the man-of-war 
Vanguard, by Captain Hervey Smith, Aide-de-camp to Gen. Wolfe, from 
the original engraving of the 5th Nov., 1760. 

10. Major General James Wolfe. p- 99. 

Originally a Welsh family, the Woulfes settled in Ireland in the 16th cen- 
tury, and became in time more " Irish than the Irish." On the capitula- 
tion of Limerick in October, 1651, to Ireton, the Parliamentarian chief, 
twenty of the most distinguished of its defenders were excepted from 
pardon and reserved for execution. Among these were two brothers, George 
and Francis Woulfe — the former a military officer, the latter a friar- The 
friar was hanged, but the captain made his escape. He fled to England 
(Yorkshire) where he settled and adopted the reformed faith and 
dropped the " u " from the name. In 1685 a son was born and named 
Edward, the father of our hero ; he married Henrietta, daughter of 
Edward Thompson, Esq., of Marsden, in Yorkshire, who was descended on 
her mother's side from the ancient family of Tindal atBrotherton, in York- 
shire. The father adopted the army as his profession, and at the age of 32 
reached the grade of Lieutenant -Colonel, without family influence or 
political interest ; solely the result of merit- On the 2nd January, 1727 (n.s.), 
or the22ad December, 1726 (os-), our hero, James, was born at the vicarage 
in Westerham, Kent, the father being 42 years of age and the mother 24. 
Soon afterwards they quitted the vicarage, which had been leased temporarily, 
and removed to the building named in the early part of the present 
century " Quebec House," situated in a hollow picturesquely at the foot 
of a hill down which winds the eastern outlet of Westerham, leading to 



164 Description of Illustrations. 

Brastead and Sevenoaks. Here under the watchful eye and careful 
training of their mother, passed the childhood of James and his younger 
brother Edward, born in the following year. They were both delicate, sensi- 
tive children, whose precarious health caused their mother many an anx- 
ious hour. About 1738, the family removed to Greenwich, which, in addition 
to his fathers's exploits as a soldier under Marlborough, only increased his 
desire to enter army life at the earliest opportunity- To the neglect of his 
schooling, he joined the forces at the tender age of 13 years and 6 months, as 
volunteer in his father's regiment. Already a martyr to illness, just as the 
fleet wassailing with his regiment he had to be put ashore, seriously ill, and 
returned to his mother- On the 3rd November, 1741 (age 14), he was ap- 
pointed Second Lieutenant in his father's regiment of marines, the 
12th Regiment (Duroure's), and in April, 1742, embarked with his 
regiment for Flanders. His first fire was received at the celebrated battle of 
Dettingen, where King George the Second and the Duke of Cumber- 
land commanded personally an army of 40,000 men, defeating the Duke 
de Noailles with 60,000 French soldiers. In 1743 (aged 16), he was made 
Lieutenant and an adjutant ; 1744, Captain in the Fourth (Barrel's) or King's 
Regiment of Foot. In October, his brother Edward, who had joined the army 
to be in company with James, whom he idolized, died after a few days' illness 
from consumption- 

1745. he was made Major of B.igade, and took part in the battle of 
Fontenoy, 11th May, 1745. 

1746. Was present with his regiment at the battle of Falkirk in Scotland, 
on the 17th January, and three months after was aide-de-camp to General 
Hawley at the battle of Culloden. Wolfe was here requested by his com- 
mander-in-chief, the Duke of Cumberland, to shoot "that Highland 
" scoundrel who dares to look upon us with so insolent a stare," alluding to 
the Colonel of the Fraser Regiment, to which Wolfe indignantly replied 
" that his commission was at His Royal Highness's disposal, but that he never 
"would consent to become an executioner-" Was it this incident which 
caused the Fraser Regiment to cling so affectionately to Wolfe in after years 
and were the first to volunteer to scale the dizzy heights of Quebec both at 
Montmorenci and Wolfe's Cove! 

1747. On the 2nd July, Barrel's regiment having returned to the Conti- 
nent, and with it Wolfe was present at the battle of Val or Lafi"eldt, at 



Description of Illustrations. 165 

which the forces were commanded by King Louis XV. personally and the 
Marshall Saxe on the French side ; the Duke of Cumberland and Sir John 
Ligonier (who was captured) on the English side . Wolfe here distinguished 
himself, the Official Gazette stating that he was wounded, and was publicly 
thanked by the commander-in-chief for his distinguished services. 

1748, after the Peace, he returned to Scotland with his regiment. 

1749. Was made a Major of the 20th Regiment on the 5th January, and re- 
turned home from service in seven active campaigns at age 22. Re- 
called to join his regiment, which was stationed at Stirling, he assumed 
command, the Lieutenant-Colonel, the Hon. Edward Cornwallis having been 
appointed Captain-General and Governor of the new settlement of Halifax in 
Nova Scotia. On the 20th March, 1750, he was officially appointed Lieut. - 
Colonel of the regiment. He served in Scotland and England until 1758. On 
furlough, he visited Paris to learn the French language, in which he 
became quite proficient. 

1755, he published his " Instructions for the guidance of the 20th Foot 
" should the French effect a landing," the best drilled regiment in the British 
army, so pronounced by the commander-in-chief. It is an admirable paper, 
clear, pithy and comprehensive Published in the Gentleman's Magazine for 
1759, pp. 529-530. 

1757. Distinguished himself at Rochfort, which brought him prominently to 
the notice of Pitt, and which was the direct cause of his selection for American 
service. 

1758. Wolfe, while at Louisbourg siege, received instruction through the 
Gazette, that he had been promoted to the Colonelcy of the second battalion 
of the 20th, now named the 67th Regiment (South Hampshire Foot) on the 
21st April. Prior to this, on the 23rd January, 1758, he was commissioned as 
Brigadier-General for service in America only. 

1759- His Father, who had become Colonel of the 8th Regiment and Lieut.- 
General, died on the 26th March, 1759, aged 74, and the Son fell at Quebec, 
13th Sept., aged 32 years, 8 months. His Mother died, aged 60, on the 26th 
Sept.. 1764. 

Of a very feeble constitution, in fact consumptive, Wolfe never enjoyed 
health such as a man in his position required. Had nature ordained other- 



1 66 Description of Illustrations. 

wise, his character was such that only Alexander the Great would have been 
his counterpart in history. In temperament he was sanguine, in disposition 
docile and magnanimous, in figure manly, bronzed and rugged by innumer- 
able campaigns, prematurely old, tall and slim (lanky, he states). Wright, in 
his Life of Wolfe, summarises his character as follows : " He was impulsive, 
but not rash ; persistent but not obstinate ; self-confident yet modest ; 
aspiring but not vain-glorious ; generous, hospitable and charitable, but not 
extravagant; stern yet gentle ; ingenuous but not egotistic ; free spoken yet 
courteous. If ever high honour, strict integrity and all the qualities which 
constitute a dutiful and affectionate son (his letters to his parents, written 
alternately almost weekly throughout his life, are models of affection), a true 
and constant lover, a sincere friend, a loyal subject, and a pure patriot, were 
combined with fearless valour, untiring industry and great mental capacity, 
they were combined in James Wolfe." 

The portrait presented of Wolfe is the very rare mezzotint by C. Spooner, 
after the sketch by Capt. Hervey Smith, his aide-de-camp, and to whom 
we are also indebted for a series of views (two of which I reproduce), done by 
him during the campaign of 1759. Both portrait and views were engraved in 
1760, the former from a direct sketch made of Wolfe while at Quebec, and 
therefore the latest portrait of him and the most interesting to us. Acknowl- 
edging his views to be accurate and carefully drawn, we must accept this 
portrait of Wolfe as an equally truthful and correct likeness, however much 
it may differ from the innumerable variety of face and form in engravings 
we are presented of him. Wolfe's biographers and family connections 
acknowledge but two authentic oil paintings and Smith's sketch ; the one by 
Highmore in the National Portrait Gallery, done at age 22, the other by an 
unknown artist, taken at age 13, in the possession of Admiral Warde ; Smith's 
sketch being in the United Service Museum. There is another less known 
portrait of him, from a sketch by Engineer John Montresor, taken at Quebec 
on the 1st Sept., 1759, and which has been mezzotinted and published July 
30, 1783, by B. Killingbeck, London. It is a profile, and said to be an excellent 
likeness. It is excessively rare, and the original sketch has disappeared. 
The well-known full length mezzo of Wolfe, at the landing of his troops at 
Quebec, by Houston, done in 1760, while presenting the characteristics in face 
and form, is not an authentic production and is too fanciful or sentimental 
to be accepted as a portrait, while the dress, accoutrements and attitude 
condemn it. 



Description of Illustrations. 167 

His appearance, as described by Wright, or in his letters printed by Wright, 
corresponds closely with the portrait I have selected. "Although the most 
" partial admirer could not have considered him by any means a handsome 
" youth, yet his countenance was so expressive of an ingenuous, hopeful spirit 
" as to make it remarkably attractive. The most striking lineament, how- 
" ever ,was the singular form of his profile, which might be nearly represented 
bytwo lines of an obtuse angle, meeting at the tip of the nose. (Wolfe's 
" profile bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the younger Pitt, as may be 
" perceived by comparing his portrait by Highmore with the bust of this 
" statesman in the National Portrait Gallery.) When in repose, his face had 
" little colour, but when excited, it blushed all over ; and the somewhat high 
" and prominent cheek-bones betrayed the share of Celtic blood he inherited. 
"The mouth denoted great decision and firmness, while the leading expres- 
" sion of the sparkling azure eyes might be most truly qualified as enquir- 
" ing. His complexion was sanguine, hair red, over which he wore the pow- 
" dered wig." In form, Wolfe says to his Mother. " It is not easy to 
" describe myself in my present state. If I aay I'm thinner, you'll imagine 
" me a shadow or a skeleton in motion. In short, I'm everything but what 
" the surgeons call a subject for anatomy ; as far as muscles, bones, and 
" the larger vessels can serve their purpose, they have a clear view of them 

" in me, distinct from fat or fleshy impediirent" " upon which I may 

" extend my long limbs " "with the advantage of long legs and 

" thighs " " very tall and thin." In a letter to his Mother, from 

Bristol, of the 19th January, 1755, he says: " Folks are surprised to see the 
" meagre, consumptive, decaying figure of the son, when the father and 
" mother preserve such good looks ; and people are not easily persuaded 
" that I am one of the family."— (Strange to say, both his parents 
were handsome, especially the Mother, who was considered a 
beauty.)— " The campaigns of 1743-4-5-6 and 7, stripped me of my 
" bloom, and the winters of Scotland and at Dover have brought me 
" almost to old age and infirmity, and this without any remarkable intemper- 
" ance. A few years more or less, are of very little consequence to the common 
"run of men, and therefore I need not lament that lam, perhaps, some- 
" what nearer my end than others of my time. I think and write upon these 
" points without being at all moved." 

In manners fascinating, in dress plain, hating coxcombery or foppish- 
ness; in habits steady, temperate almost abstemious, with a passionate 



1 68 Descriptio7i of Illustrations. 

love for outdoor sports, such as hunting, shooting, riding arid fishing; he 
neither gambled, swore, nor scoffed at religion and morality as was then the 
vogue in the best society. In short, he was a man without enemies, except 
those envious of his good qualities, intelligence and habits, and such a one 
as is born to command, for " all were swift to follow whom all loved." 

11. Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Saunders. p. 99. 

Was one of the most distinguished officers of his time and arrived at the 
highest rank in his profession. Lieutenant of the Centurion in 1740. Com- 
mander of the Ingall in Anson's expedition in 1741. In command of the Yar- 
mouth, of 64 guns , he captured the Neptune and Monarque, two 74-gun 
vessels, in an engagement under Rear-Admiral Hawke, in October. 1747. In 
1750 he was elected M.P. for Plymouth, and married the only child of James 
Buck, a banker in London, but left no issue. In 1750 he was appointed Com- 
modore and Commander-in-chief at Newfoundland. In December, 1755, he 
was named Comptroller of the Navy, and one of the elder brethren of the 
Trinity House. In 1756 he was created Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and in 1758 
he was made R. A. of the White, and then Vice-Admiral of the Blue. He 
was appointed Commander-in-chief of the American fleet in February, 1759, 
as Vice-Admiral of the Blue. In 1761 he received the insignia of the Bath, 
and died Admiral of the Blue in 1775. His remains were privately interred in 
Westminster Abbey, near Wolfe's monument. Admiral Saunders, before 
ascending the St. Lawrence, the navigation of which was unknown to English 
vessels, selected, on the advice of Capt. Hugh Palliser, the celebrated 
Navigator James Cook, then occupying a very humble position in the 
fleet, to survey the channel- Had the public services of Admiral Saunders 
been confined solely to the opportunity which he here afforded this great man 
of displaying his wonderful talents, he had conferred a benefit on his country 
and race that would have merited their everlasting gratitude- On his arrival 
home from Quebec, before landing, he turned his fleet back to sea, without 
orders, to assist Admiral Hawke to capture a French fleet under Con- 
flars. He was, however, too late. On his return, he happened 
accidentally to drop in at the theatre in Dublin, where he was re- 
ceived, much to his surprise, with the highest demonstrations of 
applause for his victory at Quebec His reception in London by 
the King and people was in the highest degree flattering to him. He 



Trouvaille. 

The London (England) Tiiiux, Saturday, 4th February, 1888, prints the fol- 
lowing communication :— 

To the Editor of the Times. 

Sir,— A letter in the Times of yesterday, signed AV. Starke, on the subject 

of the death of General Wolfe, quotes an account stated to have been given 

by Lieutenant the Hon. Henry Browne (my great grand-uncle), who was 

present on the occasion, to a Capt. Knox. 

I now send you an extract from a letter written on November 17, 1759, by 

the said Lieut. Browne to his father, giving a somewhat more detailed 

account, which, possibly, yon may consider sufficiently interesting to publish. 

Yours obediently, 

RoBT- J. Browne. 

CooLARNE, Glenageary, Kingstown, County Dublin. 
Dublin, .January 2G. 

Extract from a letter from Uenry Browne, fifth son of John Brou-iie, M.P. 
for Castlebar, who subsequently became Earl of Altamont ; 

LouiSBouRG, Nov. 17, 1759. 

I writ you a letter the lOch of Sept., and another to my Bro. 

Peter the Ist of Oct. , both, which letters I hope have arrived safe. 

I gave you. Dr. Father, as distinct an account in yours as I could of our 
action of the 13th Sept., and of the taking of the Town of Quebeck. I must 
add a little to it by informing you that I was tho person who carried General 
Wolf off the field, and that he was wounded as he stood within a foot of me. 
I thanked God I escaped, tho' we had (out of our company, which consisted 
but of 62 men at the beginning of the engagement) an officer and four men 
killed and 25 wounded- 

The General did our company the honour to head us in person, as he said he 
knew he could depend upon our behaviour, and I think we fully answered his 
expectations, as did, indeed, the whole front line, consisting at most but of 
2500 men, by beating according to their own account 8000 men, 2300 of which 
v.-ere regulars. Our second line, consisting of 1500 men, did not engage or fire 
ii shot. The poor General, after I had his wounds dressed, died in my arms. 
Before he died he thanked me for my care of him. and asked mo whether we 
had totally defeated the enemy. Upon my assuring him we had killed num- 
bers, taken a number of officers and men prisoners, he thanked God and then 
begged I would then let him die in peace. He expired in a minute after- 
wards, without the least struggle or groan. You can't imagine, dear father, 
the sorrow of every individual in the army for so great a loss. Even the 



soldiers difopped tears, who were but the minute before driving their bayonets 
through the French. I can't compare it to anything better than to a family 
in tears and sorrow which had just lost their father, their friend, and their 
whole dependance- 

Your truly and most dutiful and affectionate son, 

Hen. Browne. 
John Browne, Esq., at Westport, near Castlebar, Ireland. 

Knox's Historical Journal, 1769, Vol. II, p. 79, states: After our late 
worthy General, of renowned memory, was carried off wounded to the rear of 
the front line, he desired those who were about him to lay him down ; being 
asked if he would have a surgeon ? " A surgeon ?" he replied, " it is need- 
less; it is all over with me." One of them then cried out, "They run! see 
how they run !" "Who runs?" demanded our hero with great earnestness, 
like a person roused from sleep. The officer answered, "The enemy, Sir. 
Egad they give way everywhere." Thereupon the General rejoined, " (7«, 
one of you, my lads, to Colonel Burton; tell him to miirch Wehh'a regiment 
loith all speed to Charlen's River, to cut off the retreat of the fuc/itivex from the 
bridge." Then, turning on his side, he added, " Noip dod be prained. I irill 
die in peace !" and thus expired. 

After writing the above, Knox adds in a foot-note to page 79 : " Various 
accounts have been circulated of General Wolfe's manner of dying, his last 
words, and the officers into whose hands he fell ; and many, from a vanity of 
talking, claimed the honour of being his supporters .after he was wounded, 
but the foregoing circumstances were ascertained to me by Lieut. Browne, of. 
the Grenadiers of Louisbourg, and the Twenty-second Regiment, who, with 
.Mr. Henderson, a volunteer in the same company and a private man, were 
the three persons who carried his Excellency to the rear; which an Artil- 
lery Officer seeing, immediately flew to his assistance ; .and these were all 
that attended him in his dying moments. / do not ncolleci the ArtHleni 
Officer's name, or it should be cheerfully recorded here, 

(The General received three wounds before he suc- 
cumbed — one in the wrist, the second in the head, and the 
third in the abdomen. The above letter has appeared since 
this work was in type. I deem it sutticiently important to 
add it as a "trouvaille," inasmuch as it confirms in a re- 
markable manner tlie conclusion given by me in the nar- 
rative as to the number engaged in the battle, as well as 
further showing the reliance to be placed on Knox's valu- 
able Historical Journal of the Siege. G. E. H.) 



Description of Illustrations, 169 

was rewarded for his victory by being named, unsolicited, Lieut. -General 
of the Marines and being tendered in person the thanks of the House of Com- 
mons- Sir Charles was in 1765 made First Lord of the Admiralty over the 
heads of many officers his superior in ranli— a further testimony of his great 
worth and the high opinion held of him. In the funeral procession of the 
Duke of York, the King's brother, in 1767, he was one of the admirals who 
supported the canopy. Of an unassuming, retiring character, greatness 
unsolicited was his by transcendent merit. He was, moreover, a Privy 
Councillor and Treasurer of the Greenwich Hospital. Wolfe bequeathed his 
plate to Saunders. 
(From a proof engraving by Shipster of the painting in Greenwich Hospital.) 

12. Battle OP MoNTMOREiVci, 1759. p. 103. 

Another of the views taken by Captain Hervey Smith, aide-de-camp to 
Wolfe, at the time of the engagement. From an original engraving made 
in London, 1760. 

13. The Hon. Beigadier-General Robert Monckton. p. 104. 

Second son of Viscount Galway. Was at the battle of Dettingen and others 
of the Flanders engagements. In 1753 was at Halifax and was sent to sup- 
press the riots which took place that year among the Germans at Lunenburg- 
In 1754 was appointed Governor of the fort at Annapolis Royal. In June, 
1755, he commanded at the reduction of Fort Beausejour and the expulsion 
of the Acadians. In 1756 he was named Lieut. -Govern or of Nova Scotia 
under Charles Lawrence as Governor- In 1757 he obtained the appointment of 
Lt--Col. of the 4th Batt., 60th Regt., called Royal Americans, and was at- 
tached to the army of Lord Loudoun. In 1758 he commanded a battalion at 
the siege of Louisbourg, under Gen. Amherst, and in 1759 he served as 1st 
Brigadier-General under Wolfe at Quebec, where he received a ball through 
the lungs. He was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 17th Regiment of Foot- 
In 1761 he was brevetted a Major General and appointed Governor of 
New York. In 1761 he was appointed to the command of the troops 
against Martinico, which he captured. He returned to his Government and 
thence to England. Soon after his return home, he was tried by court martial 
on charges o( oppression preferred against him by a Major Campbell, but ot 
which he was honorably acquitted. He received the military appointment of 



1 70 Description of Illustrations. 

Governor of Berwick in 1766, and was made Lieut.-General in 1770. In 1778 
he was Governor of Portsmouth, and represented that borough in Parliament 
until his death on the 3rd May, 1782- Wolfe bequeathed his camp equipage 
to Monckton, for whom he had the greatest esteem and regard. 
(Portrait from an original mezzotint of 1761.) 

14. Quebec After the Bombardment, 1759. p. 113. 

From a view taken by Richard Short, aide-de-camp to Admiral Saunders, 
and published in 1760. 

15. The Hon. Brigadier General George Townshend. p. 114. 

Eldest son of the third Viscount Townshend, and afterwards first Marquess 
of the name. Born 1724, and was godson to King George I. He entered the 
army at an early age and served throughout the Flanders campaign with 
Wolfe and Monckton. He was Second Brigadier General in Wolfe's expedi- 
tion to Quebec. He afterwards attained the rank of Field Marshal and 
Colonel of the second regiment of Dragoon Guards ; was also a Privy Coun- 
cillor, High Steward of Tamworth, Yarmouth and Norwich, Governor of 
Jersey, and Master-General of the Ordnance. He also administered the gov- 
ernment of Ireland as Lord Lieutenant in 1767. He married twice, firstly in 
1751, Lady Charlotte Compton, only daughter of the Earl of Northampton and 
Baroness Ferrers, by whom his escutcheon was emblazoned by over two liun- 
rfrec? awcZ Mi/ quarterings, including that of the royal Plantagenets and two 
very ancient Baronies ; secondly, in 1773, Anne, co-heir of Sir William Mont- 
gomery, Bart. He died on the 14th September, 1807. He was brave, 
talented, but impatient of authority, and excelled in caricaturing. Wolfe 
tolerated, but had no personal friendship for him. He found him a, malcontent 
at Quebec. Townshend owed hi.s preferment to his great family influence, 
his brother Charles being a Minister of State. 

(Portrait is from a mezzotint made in 1758, immediately after he introduced 
his famous Militia Bill in the House of Commons, a copy of which he is hold- 
ing in his hands.) 

16. Captain Hugh Palliser, R.N. p. 115. 

Post Captain in 1746. Was in command of the Shrejysbury 74 guns at 
Quebec ; age, 38. Comptroller of the Navy, Admiral, and a Baronet in 1773. 



Description of Illustrations. 1 7 1 

March 31, 1764, Governor of Newfoundland. Serving as second in command 
under Admiral Keppel at Ushant in 1778 ; a misunderstanding arose between 
them, and Sir Hugh preferred a charge against Admiral Keppel, who was 
acquitted. Sir Hugh was then tried in his turn and reprimanded. He was, 
however, a brave and experienced officer, and became Uovernor of Greenwich 
Hospital. Born 1721, died 1796. 
(Portrait from an engraving made in 1796.) 

17. AVolfe's Monument, Westminster Abbey. p. 137. 

On the 21st November, 1759, the House of Commons resolved to address the 
King that His Majesty would order a monument to be erected in Westmins- 
ter Abbey to the memory of Wolfe. The King named the Duke of Devon- 
shire as chairman of the committee to take the matter in hand. Wilton's 
design was chosen. The sculpture was not finished until 1772, and on the 4th 
October, 1772, the national monument was uncovered. It stands near the 
north transept of the Abbey Church, and occupies a large space in St. John 
the Evangelist's Chapel, facing the ambulatory. It is chiefly composed of 
white marble, and consists of an elevated base and sarcophagus, which is 
inscribed : — 

To the Memory of 

JAMES WOLFE, 

Major-General and Commander-in-Chief 

Of the British Land Forces 

On an expedition against Quebec, 

Who, after surmounting by ability and valour 

All obstacles of art and nature. 

Was slain, in the moment of victory. 

On the XIIL of September, MDCCLIX., 

The King and Parliament of Great Britain 

Dedicate this Monument- 

(From an engraving of the period.) 



172 Description of Illustrations. 

18. The Hon. Brigadier-General James Murray. p. 138. 

Fifth son of the fourth Baron Elibank (a Scotch peer). His great-grandfather 
was one of the six Peers who opposed the delivering up of Charles I. to the 
Parliament of England. Was throughout the Flanders engagements. Was 
present at the siege of Louisbourg, in which he attracted the attention of 
Wolfe, who selected him as his third Brigadier at Quebec. He was left in com- 
mand of the city after its capitulation, and was appointed first (governor 
thereof, and after the treaty of Peace was named Governor-General and mili- 
tary commander of Canada. In 1760, he was defeated in an engagement with 
Levis, and subsequently joined Amherst at Montreal when the Province sur- 
rendered to the British arms. In 1767 he returned to England on leave of 
absence, but receiving a better appointment, he did not return to Canada- In 
1781 he was in command of the Island of Minorca, besieged by an army of 12,000 
Spanish and French troops under the Uuke de Crillon, which he successfully 
resisted for seven months, with an army of under 2,000 men. They becoming 
decimated by disease, he surrendered under most honorable terms, largely 
obtained by his becoming conduct in indignantly refusing an offer made to 
him by De Crillon of a surrender on payment to him of a million francs and a 
French peerage . General Murray's career in Canada was distinguished by a 
sterling sense of honor and justice to the conquered natives, and enjoining to 
them their full immunities and privileges by the terms of the conquest, a 
right which some of the incoming British immigrants desired to deprive them 
of. General Murray was much regretted by the whole population, and 
notably the clergy. He became a Lieut.-General. Born 1704 ; married twice, 
having no issue by his first wife, but by his second wife (at age of 78) a son, 
who became a Major General ; died 1794, aged 90 years. 

(Theportrait is from a stipple engraving of 1782, the year in which his son 
was bom.) 

19. Chevalier de Levis. p. 140. 

Frangois Gaston de Levis, Seigneur de Mirepoix, de Leran, de Charlus, de 
Chateaumorand ; was born at Ajac, in Languedoc, on the 20th August, 1719. 
He was a member of the great historic family of which the Dukes d'Uzez 
were the lineal descendants, and de Ventadour and Marquis Mirepoix the 
collateral branches. They were the first family elevated to the Peerage of 
France and honored with the title of Duke. The Mirepoix branch, of which 



Description of Ilhistrations. 1 73 

the Chevalier was direct inheritor, had the honorary and distinguished title 
of "Marshall of the Faith," for having fought successfully the hereti- 
cal Albigenses- The name, until 1689, was spelt " de Levy." Hia 
ancestor, Henry de Levy, Duke de Ventadour, in 1625, was Viceroy of 
Canada, under whose administration Champlain was sent as Governor to the 
colony. He entered the French army in 1735, his first commission being a 
lieutenant in a marine regiment ; 1737, was made Captain ; 1758, Colonel and 
Brigadier ; 1758, Mar^chal de Camp ; 1761, Lieutenant-General ; 1783, Field 
Marshal. He was popularly known in his military career as the Chevalier de 
Levis, and always was addressed as such. He was appointed second in com- 
mand to Montcalm, whose friendship for him from infancy was no doubt 
occasioned by their coming from the same province. His campaigns in 
Canada, 1756-1760, are fully mentioned herein. Abroad he saw service in 
Bohemia in 1741-42, and was at the battle of Dettingen in 1743, opposed to 
Wolfe, Amherst, Monckton, Towushend and Murray, as he was afterwards in 
Canada. He was throughout all the campaigns of 1743 to 1746 in Flanders, 
and afterwards saw service in Italy, Provence and Nice, and distinguished 
himself at Montalban. After his return from Canada, he was one of the 
very few ofiicers on the French side for whom England and France both had 
the greatest respect. A striking mark of England's favor was shown by his 
surrender as a prisoner being limited to service in America, it being specially 
granted that he could participate on his nation's side in Europe. Hence we 
see him taking part in the battles of Villinghausen and Johannisberg. He 
was liberally rewarded by France for his services, and in 1784 we find 
his titles to be: Francois de Levis, Due et Mar^chal de France, 
Chevalier des Ordres du Roy et des Ordres Royaume Militaires et Hospitallers 
de Notre Dame du Mont Carmel et de St. Lazare de Jerusalem, Grand Bailli 
d'Ep^e de Villers la Montagne, Capitaine des Gardes du corps de Monsieur 
FrereduRoy, Gouverneur-G^neral de la Province d'Artois, et Gouverneur 
Particulier des villes, cit^ et citadelle d'Arras, with emoluments of 97,470 
livres a year. He died in 1787. 

20. Major General Jeffery Amherst. p. 143. 

Was born at Sevenoaks, 1717, of an ancient Kentish family. He began 

life as Page to the Duke of Dorset, aad entered the army in 1731, and in 1741 

was Aide-de-camp to General Ligonier, under whom he served at the battles 



1 74 Description of Illustrations. 

of Dettingen, Fontenoy and Rocoux, and on the staff of the Duke of 
Cumberland at the Battles of Laflfeldt and Hastenbeck. In 1756 he was 
appointed Colonel of the 15th Regiment of foot, and in 1758 was made 
Major-General and sent to America, his career being fully mentioned herein- 
Having received the capitulation of all Canada at the surrender of Montreal, 
he returned to New York, where he was invested with the insignia of the 
Bath as a special reward and honor, also receiving the thanks of the House of 
Commons in England. He was further created a Privy Councillor, and a 
Lieut.-General, In 1763 he returned to England, was appointed Governor 
of Virginia, a sinecure position, subsequently of Guernsey. In 1776 was 
created Baron Amherst of Helmsdale, and in 1788 Baron Amherstof Montreal, 
adopting as supporters to his arms, two Indians in full battle array, the 
sinister holding a tomahawk suspended to which is a human scalp ! Recog- 
nizing that he owed this high honor to a nation's gratitude for his services in 
Canada, he named his seat " Montreal House." In 1778 he was made 
commander-in-chief of the army in England. In 1795 he was created a Field 
Marshal, and died in 1797. 

He died without issue, though twice married, and was succeeded by his 
nephew, William Pitt Amherst, son of Colonel William Amherst his brother, 
and aide-de-camp at Louisbourg. He was a man of indomitable perseverance 
and courage, but slow and methodical in his movements. Provident, con- 
ciliating and cool, Amherst disposed his plans, adopted his measures, recon- 
ciled jarring interests, and pursued his operations with steadiness, neither 
precipitating nor delaying beyond the due point, and comprehending the 
whole under a due authority which he knew how to assume. ( Walpole'a 
Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 439.) 

(The portrait given is a mezzotint by the celebrated James Watson, after 
a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and was made circa 1763.) 

21. Montreal in 1760. p. 147. 

Is from a very rare engraving, drawn on the spot immediately after the 
Conquest, by Thomas Patten. 

The large building to the far left, on the point, is the General Hospital, 
about the site of the present building of the Examining Warehouse ; 
coming to the right, the first steeple is that of the Recollet Church, the ves- 
sel dividing these two. The next steeple is that of the St. Sulpice Church, 



Description of Ilhtstrations. 175 

just in front of the present Notre Dame Churcli. The old Congrega- 
tional Convent is shown by the blank wall, pointed roof and small steeple in 
about the centre of the town. The large building with steeple, to the further 
right, is the Jesuits' Church, about the site of the present Court House and 
fronting on Notre Dame Street, the Fort being on the elevation at the extreme 
right or eastern end of the city, known at present as Dalhousie Square. The 
city was comprised within the fortifications— a stone wall 12 ft. x 4 ft., finished 
in 1728, having a ditch on all sides. It appeared to run along Commissioners 
Street and Foundling on the front; St. James Street on the rear; McGill 
Street on the west, and Campeau Street on the east. 

22. Brigadier General Thomas Gage. p. 151. 

Was second son of the first and father of the third Viscount Gage 
of Ireland. Was in Braddock's defeat, as Lieutenant-Colonel command- 
ing the advance guard, at Carillon with Abercromby ; was subsequently ap- 
pointed Brigadier General, Light Infantry. Was sent by Amherst to succeed 
Prideaux after his death at the siege of Niagara, but before reaching there, 
the Fort surrendered to Sir Wm. Johnson. He was with Amherst, second in 
command, on his descent to Montreal. Upon the surrender of the town he 
was left in charge as Governor, and in 1763 was appointed Com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces in North America, in succession to 
Amherst. In 1774, he was appointed Governor (the last) of Massachusetts, in 
which oflBce his loyalist tendencies made him very obnoxious to the people, 
and the following year the Provincial Congress disqualified him from serving 
as Governor. In October, 1775, he returned to England. In 1782 he was 
made Colonel of the ITth Light Dragoons, and November he was created a 
General. He married, in 1758, Margaiet, daughter of Peter Kemble, Presi- 
dent of the Council of New Jersey, who survived him until 9th February, 
1824, aged £0 years. They had three sons, one of whom, the third 
Viscount and inheritor of the titles of this very ancient and great 
family, was born in Montreal on the 4th of March, 1761. He pos- 
sessed a naturally amiable disposition (which made him much re- 
spected and beloved in Montreal as Governor), and his benevolence 
often outweighed his justice in the scale of duty. As commander of the 
forces he was a failure, and a good deal of the rise of the American Eevolu- 
tion is attributable to his actions. He died in England, April, 1787. 



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